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gered species, development of a regional trail, institution of an en- 

 vironmental education program for a nearby school, and reduction 

 in maintenance costs. 



And, actually, I would like to do something dangerous and di- 

 verge from my written testimony and point something out that has 

 not been brought up today. We should be concerned about the ex- 

 tinction of salmon, the extinction of aquatic species. We should also 

 be concerned about the extinction of experience. 



Robert Michael Pile has written a book I would commend to you 

 called, "The Thunder Tree." It describes his growing up as a youth 

 in the city of Denver and his experiences as a youth and what it 

 meant to him later as an adult growing up on the Hiline Canal. 

 In his book he makes the thesis that everybody needs a ditch. In 

 fact, the urban waterways that we are describing are frequently de- 

 scribed as ditches; and, therefore, there is a rationale for filling 

 them, for culverting them and for not paying attention to their eco- 

 logical health. 



Bob makes the argument that we need to be just as concerned 

 about children who lack experience, close personal experience with 

 nature and their own immediate radius of reaches. He describes it, 

 people who do not know, do not care; people who do not care, do 

 not act. I think we need to be concerned about that sort of extinc- 

 tion, that extinction of experience as of plants and animals. 



I was also asked to provide some common elements of successful 

 projects. I would point out that good, well-designed, locally based, 

 nonstructural approaches tend to be multi-objective in nature. That 

 is, they recognize the multiple values of the resource, but also the 

 multiple benefits that can come from a project. They are commu- 

 nity-based, low tech, lower cost both in terms of installation and 

 maintenance. They generate local jobs, and they are definitely co- 

 operative and proactive in nature. 



By contrast, large-scale structural engineering projects are typi- 

 cally, not always, but typically, top-bound, agency-driven and costly 

 to construct and maintain. Highly engineered flood and bank sta- 

 bilization projects can cost as much as $5 million per mile. The 

 State of California's restoration grants program, by contrast, after 

 which H.R. 4289 is modeled, has averaged $30,000 per project and 

 does not exceed $200,000 for any single project. 



I cannot believe I went over my testimony a zillion times and I 

 am still going to run short. 



I guess I would like to close by saying that I view H.R. 4289 and 

 the other proposals before you as elements of an overall strategy 

 to incorporate urban waterways as part of the urban infrastruc- 

 ture. We need to look at these waterways, just as we look at sew- 

 ers, at roads and utilities, and incorporate those into our thinking. 

 And I would like to point out that this is very complementary to 

 Mr. Lyons' urban initiatives and, in fact, Director Beattie is not 

 aware of it probably, but in Portland, Oregon, the regional office 

 has been actively involved in our own metropolitan green spaces 

 program. And at least half of the money from that program has 

 gone into local restoration projects in the four county regions. 



I would close by saying we believe the Soil Conservation Service, 

 because of their experience in working on the ground with property 

 owners, is certainly the appropriate agency, and we have spent two 



