As Director ott has said, the National Park idea has proven to be one of the best American exports and, through this medium, we have gained both respect and friends for United States throughout the world. We can no longer consider our own national parks in isolation, nor can we consider our National Park System in isolation. The exchange of ideas and information between managers of National Park Systems is becoming increasingly important for the effective management of .. Our areas. The National Park Service has had a long history of providing information and training to foreign nationals in matters related to protected area design and management, environmental monitoring and conservation education/public information. Professional development of foreign nationals and institution building to achieve self sustaining capabilities is one component and a primary focus of most National Park Service international activities. As such it cuts across all other program categories. National Park Service International Park Affairs 1985 Budget In FY 1985, the International Park Affairs office received $518,000 from monies appropriated by the Congress for Operation of the National Park System (ONPS). These funds were allocated as follows: In addition, the office of International Park Affairs received $793,226 from other sources such as reimbursable programs (USAID, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia), grants, and special appropriations (P.L. 480). These funds helped support the training of 451 foreign park and conservation officials from 68 countries (4,136 training days). Written responses were made to over 750 requests from foreign governments for technical information. STATEMENT OF LAWRENCE N. MASON, CHIEF, OFFICE OF INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS, U.S. FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, BEFORE SUBCOMMITTEE ON PUBLIC LANDS, COMMITTEE ON INTERIOR AND INSULAR AFFAIRS, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ON INTERNATIONAL ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS OF THE DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, FOREST SERVICE, AND ADVISORY COUNCIL ON HISTORIC PRESERVATION OCTOBER 8, 1985 Good morning Mr. Chairman. I am Lawrence N. Mason, Chief of the Office of International Affairs of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and I am most pleased to be here today to describe to you the international activities of the Service. As you might imagine from the nature of the resources over which the Service exercises stewardship on behalf of the American people, there are international aspects to nearly all of our work. Since the turn of the century, the Congress has assigned increasing international responsibilities to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service through statutory enactments and the ratification of a host of treaties and conventions the implementation of which is assigned to the Service. A representative list of these statutory and treaty authorities is appended to this statement. Mr. Chairman, I would like to walk through the Service's major resource programs and briefly describe some of the international responsibilities of each of them. Assistant Secretary Montoya has made the point that we become involved in international work for a variety of reasons one of which is an extension of our domestic mission responsibilities. It is these activities that I would first like to address, along with some of the rationale for them. Over half of the I would begin with our Wildlife Resources Program, birds native to the United States are migratory. Of the 15 major waterfowl species that breed in North American we have band recoveries from Latin America for 11 of those species. A large number of the non-game species witnessed here actually spend more time in the New World tropics than in the U.S. Effective management of our migratory bird resources and of their habitat needs simply cannot be done without international cooperation. It is for this reason that the Migratory Bird Treaty Act implements four treaties for the international management of these resources--with Canada, Mexico, Japan, and the Soviet Union. Creation of these treaties spans a period from 1916 to 1976. Surveys of waterfowl and their habitats in Canada and Mexico are annual international events without which effective management of these resources within the U.S. would be virtually impossible. Elsewhere within the Wildlife Resources Program we exercise our concern for the dangers associated with the introduction of injurious and exotic animals and plants into the U.S. It is clearly documented that the introduction of exotic species is a major cause of species endangerment. This activity also necessitates a degree of interaction with other nations and cooperation with them in assuring that proposed introductions do not carry severe negative implications for our native fauna and flora and that where such implications do exist, introductions are restricted. A great deal of the Service's law enforcement effort is concentrated on international matters. For example, even before the recent merging of the Lacey and Black Bass Acts, both contained restrictions making importation and interstate commerce in species illegally taken abroad illegal in the United States as well. Together with enforcement of the Convention on International Trade in Threatened and Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) the U.S. seeks to assure that trade and commerce in wildlife, its parts and products, do not contribute to the extinction of such animals and plants in the wild. The Service's Federal Assistance Program is likewise involved in a variety of international activities. Within this Program is the Office of Endangered Species wherein implementation of the 1973 Act, as amended, is seated. That Act calls for us to identify and list the threatened and endangered species of both the U.S. and the world and through such listing to control trade, commerce, or other actions likely to jeopardize the survival of listed species. Most foreign species listings are carried out by the Washington Office staff and nearly 500 such species appear on the U.S. list. Clearly, such listings cannot take place without an extensive network for the collaboration of data submitted in petitions for these foreign listings. Upon occasion it becomes necessary to finance field research |