36 



The composition will include members of all Federal agencies 

 that are concerned with restoration activities. That certainly would 

 include USDA and the Forest Service, would it not? 



Mr. Lyons. I would hope it would. I guess what I am arguing for 

 is a strong and coequal role between the Departments of Agri- 

 culture and Interior, EPA and the Corps so as to ensure that the 

 kind of close cooperation we see now occurring in the Northwest 

 continues. 



Mr. Hamburg. And also with respect to the membership on the 

 National Aquatic Restoration Council itself, which will make the 

 decisions basically on funding allocation to various local groups, it 

 calls for representation by the Chief of SCS, which, of course, is the 

 same Department as you, but not the same division. 



Mr. Lyons. Right. 



Mr. Hamburg. That is something that we have received comment 

 on from USDA and that may be altered. There is no provision in 

 the bill that calls for any particular member to be the Chair. The 

 council is a 15-member group. I am being advised on the council 

 the Fish and Wildlife Service is the chair of that, and you are say- 

 ing that perhaps that should be a rotating chair. 



Mr. Lyons. I think, again, what has helped the cooperation we 

 have seen in the Northwest has been the shared responsibilities 

 among the Ecosystem Restoration Team that we have out there 

 now, and I think there is some benefit to maintaining that kind of 

 working relationship. And a rotating chair is a way to ensure that 

 all the players who have very active programs can share in the re- 

 sponsibility for implementation of the task force's overall goals and 

 objectives. 



Mr. Hamburg. I had a couple of questions for Mr. Archie. 



The group that you work with, the East Bay Conservation Corps, 

 what is their geographic jurisdiction? 



Mr. Archie. Our area? It is probably about a 100-mile radius. 

 We go from what we call the East Bay area, we go from Contra 

 Costa County and Alameda County. Probably about 150 miles geo- 

 metrically. And we ourselves have over 150 Corps members. 



We are definitely a major impact on the city of Oakland in terms 

 of the water. We believe in bringing back and maintaining our com- 

 munities by having projects such as creek restoration and doing- 

 the-river restorations. When we are out there we are highly visible 

 people, in terms of what our locals get a chance to see. We draw 

 from an area called Hayward, where we have satellite centers also 

 down in the southern part of the county. 



Mr. Hamburg. Given the cutbacks that have happened with 

 State support for the Corps, have you been able to hold the size of 

 your organization at 150 or have you had to cut back? 



Mr. Archie. We recently went through some problems with 

 budgeting. And it is funny, we just finished a contract with DWR, 

 which I mentioned earlier. We had over 6,000 Corps member hours 

 and 2,000 volunteer hours on that, which is a major blow. Without 

 having a project like that, we are potentially losing a team of three 

 crews. So, yes, we have been kind of in a shuffle. 



Mr. Hamburg. I do not know if this is your part of the operation, 

 but approximately what is the cost to the State for a Corps member 

 to be in the program, say for one year? 



