198 



Salmonid 

 Restoration 

 Federation 



PO BOX 4260 • ARCATA. CALIFORNIA 9552 I •1707)444-8903 



July 8. 1994 



The Honorable Dan Hamburg 

 US. House of Representatives 

 Washington. DC. 20515 



Dear Dan: 



Our organization represents men and women actively engaged in the restoration of 

 California's salmon, steelhead and trout populations and their habitat. Our constituency consists 

 of over 3000 individuals involved in a variety of watershed and fish habitat restoration, small- 

 scale artificial propagation and fishery resource conservation education activities 



As you know, over the past several months SRF, in collaboration with several other 

 fishery conservation advocacy organizations, has been working closely with your Mendocino 

 County District Aide David Nelson to craft a Russian River fishery restoration bill that would 

 establish an effective franework for the restoration of the basin's salmon and steelhead 

 populations We wanted a bill that would be action-oriented, would establish a planning and 

 prioritization process for implementing habitat restoration projects so that only the most 

 critical cost-effective projects would be funded by the bill, and would establish an advisory 

 body for the purpose of optimizing public involvement and development of cooperative 

 partnerships between the myriad of interest groups and agencies involved in basin fishery 

 issues. We would like to express our appreciation for David's patience, willingness to listen and 

 learn, and interest in crafting the best possible bill. 



Yesterday. I and representatives of several key fishery conservation organizations met 

 with David to express our shared opinion that three technical changes in HR 4408's t«-xt needed 

 to be made in order to insure that the bill's goals and objectives would be met. At the conclusion 

 of the meeting, David assured us that the changes would be made in the form of a friendly 

 amendment on or before the July 19 hearing before the House Merchant Marine and Fisheries 

 Committee. 



Amended as promised, this bill can truthfully be touted as a model for future federal 

 river fishery restoration legislative efforts. As students of the implementation of two major 

 federal river fishery restoration programs in California, we are gratified by your willingness 

 to learn from and avoid repeating the past mistakes we've brought to your attention. 



By facilitating completion of a state-produced comprehensive basin fishery restoration 

 plan, minimizing administration overlays and thus administration costs, laying the groundwork 



