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COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS

JACK BROOKS, Texas

CHET HOLIFIELD, California, Chairman

L. H. FOUNTAIN, North Carolina

ROBERT E. JONES, Alabama

JOHN E. MOSS, California
DANTE B. FASCELL, Florida
HENRY S. REUSS, Wisconsin

TORBERT H. MACDONALD, Massachusetts
WILLIAM S. MOORHEAD, Pennsylvania
WM. J. RANDALL, Missouri

BENJAMIN S. ROSENTHAL, New York
JIM WRIGHT, Texas

FERNAND J. ST GERMAIN, Rhode Island
JOHN C. CULVER, Iowa

FLOYD V. HICKS, Washington

DON FUQUA, Florida

JOHN CONYERS. JR., Michigan
BILL ALEXANDER, Arkansas
BELLA S. ABZUG, New York

HAROLD D. DONOHUE, Massachusetts
JAMES V. STANTON, Ohio
LEO J. RYAN, California

KF21

G636 1971 Pt.6

FRANK HORTON, New York
JOHN N. ERLENBORN, Illinois
JOHN W. WYDLER, New York
CLARENCE J. BROWN, Ohio
GUY VANDER JAGT, Michigan
GILBERT GUDE, Maryland

PAUL N. MCCLOSKEY, JR., California
JOHN H. BUCHANAN, JR., Alabama
SAM STEIGER, Arizona
GARRY BROWN, Michigan
CHARLES THONE, Nebraska
RICHARD W. MALLARY, Vermont
STANFORD E. PARRIS, Virginia
RALPH S. REGULA, Ohio

ANDREW J. HINSHAW, California
ALAN STEELMAN, Texas
JOEL PRITCHARD, Washington
ROBERT P. HANRAHAN, Illinois

HEBERT ROBACK, Staff Director
ELMER W. HENDERSON, General Counsel
MILES Q. ROMNEY, Counsel-Administrator
J. P. CARLSON, Minority Counsel

WILLIAM H. COPENHAVER, Minority Professional Staff

CONSERVATION AND NATURAL RESOURCES SUBCOMMITTEE HENRY S. REUSS, Wisconsin, Chairman

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3383

3349-3369

Want, William L., counsel, Resources Defense Unit, National Wildlife
Federation: Sundry material relative to the hearings____.
Wilkinson, John M., Arthur D. Little, Inc.:

3306-3312

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STREAM CHANNELIZATION

(Part 6)

THURSDAY, MARCH 22, 1973

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,

CONSERVATION AND NATURAL RESOURCES SUBCOMMITTEE

OF THE COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS,

Washington, D.C.

The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:05 a.m., in room 2247, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Henry S. Reuss (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding.

Present: Representatives Henry S. Reuss, Dante B. Fascell, Floyd V. Hicks, Leo J. Ryan, L. H. Fountain, Guy Vander Jagt, Alan Steelman, and Joel Pritchard.

Staff members present: Phineas Indritz, chief counsel; David B. Finnegan, assistant counsel; Ruth M. Wallick, clerk; and J. P. Carlson, minority counsel, Committee on Government Operations.

Mr. REUSS. Good morning.

The Subcommittee on Conservation and Natural Resources will be in order for a continuation of its hearings on stream channelization. This morning we are going to hear from a number of expert witnesses. The first group will be a panel of environmental witnesses Mr. William L. Want, counsel for the Resources Defense Unit of the National Wildlife Federation, and Mr. Louis S. Clapper, director of conservation of the National Wildlife Federation.

Mr. Want and Mr. Clapper, would you step forward, please? And I will also ask Mr. John L. Franson, central-midwest representative of the National Audubon Society; Tom Barlow, of the Natural Resources Defense Council; Mr. Edward L. Rogers, of the Environmental Defense Fund; and Mr. William B. Carter, Jr., of the PamlicoTar Conservation Coalition, Washington, N.C., to come forward.

Gentlemen, you are all very welcome, and your help to us in our continuing study of stream channelization as practiced today is much appreciated. All of you have prepared comprehensive statements, and under the rule and without objection they will be admitted in full into the record. I would like to ask each of you to proceed to present your views.

Before doing that, however, I also offer for the record a number of letters to Congressman Fountain, a member of this subcommittee, from various North Carolina officials concerning the small watershed program and stream channelization. Without objection, they will be admitted into the record at this point.

(3289)

[The letters referred to follow:]

NASH SOIL AND WATER CONSERVATION DISTRICT,
Nashville, N.C., March 13, 1973.

Hon. L. H. FOUNTAIN,
House of Representatives
Washington, D.C.

DEAR CONGRESSMAN FOUNTAIN: The board of supervisors of the Nash Soil and Water Conservation District are vitally interested in having the opportunity to continue to help landowners construct channels where they are needed. We think it would not be in the best interest of our area to declare a moratorium on constructing channels.

Since the Soil Conservation District was first organized in September 1937, the men who have represented the district have considered digging channels a necessary part of a complete conservation program. Many of the channels constructed were necessary for outlets for tile drains. They are a necessary part of changing marginal land to productive cropland. Three different channels have been constructed in Nash County within the last 3 years where poor drainage caused health problems in residential areas. In each case, local people joined together to solve a common problem. We think each of these projects are examples of rural development at the grassroots level. Also, in each of these three projects, the majority of the homeowners were members of the minority race with low incomes. The channels that have been dug in Nash County are not draining land normally used for wetland wildlife, but drain land once used for cropland but has been abandoned because of wetness.

During the last 2 years, Soil Conservation Service personnel have assisted two district cooperators in developing duck ponds. The two ponds provide about 55 acres of wildlife wetland habitat. Ducks now inhabit both ponds which were without ducks before the ponds were constructed. We are vitally interested in developing wildlife wetland areas as we think this is as important to the total conservation program as erosion control and proper water management using channels.

We believe that by helping landowners install wildlife wetland measures, we have shown in a very positive manner that we are interested in providing some areas for ducks and other water-loving animals. Some of the most severe critics of channelization have done very little to assist people in developing areas for wildlife.

The other members of the Nash Soil and Water Conservation District Board join me in requesting that you oppose efforts to have a moratorium on channelization.

Very truly yours,

GARLAND E. STRICKLAND, Chairman, Nash Soil and Water Conservation District Supervisors.

SOIL AND WATER CONSERVATION DISTRICT,
Halifax, N.C., March 9, 1973.

Hon. L. H. FOUNTAIN,

House of Representatives, Washington, D.C. DEAR CONGRESSMAN FOUNTAIN: It is our understanding that there will be a congressional committee hearing in Washington on March 20 and 21, 1973, relative to channelization work in the small watershed program, and that you are serving as one of the members of the committee. We also understand that there is a concentrated effort being made in Washington to abolish the small watershed program. We want to voice our opposition to any such action and ask that you do everything in your power to assure the continuance of this good program. Drainage has always been a problem in our district, particularly in the Coastal Plains portion of the county. The district has been encouraging the construction of individual and group drainage jobs where they are needed for many years. An example of this is a group drainage job that was constructed several years ago in the Hobgood area. This project benefited eight landowners, the town of Hobgood (street drainage) and a school. From time to time, channels need to be cleaned out to provide adequate drainage outlets for all land uses including agricultural land, recreational developments, housing developments, schools, industrial developments, hospitals, etc.

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