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Testimony of 



James R. Lyons 



Assistant Secretary for Natural Resources and Environment 



U.S. Department of Agriculture 



before the 



SUBCOMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENT 



AND NATURAL RESOURCES 



of the 



COMMITTEE ON MERCHANT MARINE AND FISHERIES 



U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 



July 19, 1994 



MR. CHAIRMAN AND MEMBERS OF THE SUBCOMMITTEE: 



Thank you for this opportunity to discuss the Administration's position on pending 

 legislation HR. 4289, the Waterways Restoration Act of 1994. 



I am pleased the Subcommittee has committed this time to discussing restoration of these 

 valuable natural resources. As we are all aware, many of the Nations waterways are no 

 longer functioning as dynamic or diverse aquatic ecosystems. 



I want to commend Congresswoman Furse for this bill because it makes an important 

 contribution to the debate over the direction and goals of this Nation's natural resource 

 policies. The Administration supports several of the principles contained in the bill which 

 are designed to emphasize non- structural, community-based projects to restore waterways. 

 The bill takes strong steps to erase some of the historical distinctions that federal programs 

 have made between urban and rural communities, high income and low income 

 populations, and economically depressed and economically advanced cities and regions. It 

 is also critical that ecosystem principles be incorporated into our natural resource programs, 

 and the bill reflects this concept as well. 



