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deriving therefrom. A watershed is an ecosystem encompassing a 

 nested system of forest (or grassland) and aquatic ecosystems. 



There is much call of late for "ecosystem" management. This 

 makes eminent sense — managing for the function of the system, 

 rather than managing parts of it piecemeal , without regard for 

 other parts or the whole system. We do not yet know the forms 

 that ecosystem management will take, but managing for ecological 

 integrity (in a word, health) of watersheds will surely be a good 

 start. The Pacific Rivers Council strategy for hanging onto the 

 last best watersheds in the Pacific Northwest and for securing 

 them by putting people to work stormproof ing the human-affected 

 edges of such watersheds would seem to be one helpful first step. 

 It is in keeping with the new management thrusts that are 

 developing within USFS and BLM, based on scientific understanding 

 of interrelationships among land, water and organisms. I urge 

 that in guiding USFS and BLM, Congress consider the proposal and 

 the ideas presented here. 



Correcting the abuse of federal lands will go a long way 

 toward ensuring the survival of many of the salmon stocks that 

 are today in great peril. Ultimately, however, we also must 

 address the threats that derive from the abuse of the non-federal 

 lands that lie within our Pacific Northwest watersheds. To do 

 so. Congress will need to take a hard look at the Clean Water 

 Act. One of the Clean Water Act's primary objectives is to 



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