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The Federal Government has historically overlooked low income 

 and minority communities in awarding funding in its watershed 

 programs. 4289 gives projects benefiting those neglected areas pri- 

 ority and evaluates projects on their social, environmental, as well 

 as economic benefits. It is about helping communities help them- 

 selves. It creates a nonregulatory, nonmandatory voluntary pro- 

 gram. It is, indeed, a funded Federal nonmandate. It allows com- 

 munities to design and implement programs that they want. Both 

 public managers and private property owners can apply for these 

 programs. It is the result of a comprehensive, highly collaborative 

 process which included the Soil Conservation Service. 



Mr. Chairman, I would like to ask permission to enter into the 

 record the list of the many organizations endorsing this legislation. 

 They range from the Sierra Club and the Izaak Walton League, to 

 the NAACP and the Minority Environmental Association. The Soci- 

 ety of American Foresters and the National Watershed Coalition 

 both have also endorsed the bill in concept. They recognize its en- 

 actment will help broaden the constituencies supporting the contin- 

 ued existence of overall Public Law 566 programs. 



Mr. Chairman, as an aside, I would like to say that every com- 

 munity has individuals who make all the difference in the health 

 of that community. They are what I would call community treas- 

 ures. I am proud that one of Oregon's community treasures, Mike 

 Houck, is here to testify on H.R. 4289. Without him there would 

 be no such legislation. He brought the idea to me and he has 

 helped me all the way through. 



I look forward, Mr. Chairman, to working closely with you and 

 other members of this Committee on prompt passage of H.R. 4289 

 and I would like to thank Secretary Lyons for taking his valuable 

 time to testify here today. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 



Mr. Hochbrueckner. Thank you, Ms. Furse. 



At this point we will hear from Jim Lyons, the U.S. Department 

 of Agriculture. Mr. Lyons. 



STATEMENT OF JAMES R. LYONS, ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR 

 NATURAL RESOURCES AND ENVIRONMENT, U.S. DEPART- 

 MENT OF AGRICULTURE 



Mr. Lyons. Thank you, very much, Mr. Chairman. I want to 

 thank you for the opportunity to discuss the Administration's views 

 regarding H.R. 4289, the Waterways Restoration Act of 1994. 



I want to commend Congresswoman Furse for this bill because 

 it makes an important contribution in my mind to the debate over 

 the direction and goals of this Nation's natural resource policies, 

 specifically related to waterways. The Administration supports the 

 principles contained in the bill which are designed to emphasize 

 nonstructural, community-based projects to restore waterways. 



The bill takes strong steps to erase some of the historical distinc- 

 tion that Federal programs have made between urban and rural 

 communities, high income and low income populations, and eco- 

 nomically depressed and economically advanced cities and regions. 

 It is also critical that ecosystem principles be incorporated into our 

 natural resource programs and, of course, the bill reflects those 

 concepts well. 



