Answers to Questions for Assistant Secretary Montoya 1. Answer to follow at later date under separate cover. 2. The Department itself has not taken specific steps to implement the recommendations to Congress in the 1984 "Report on Conserving International Wildlife Resources". Within the Department, a formal initiative for specific steps would come from the Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Park Service to the Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks and thence to the Secretary through the Assistant Secretary for Territorial and International Affairs. The Office of International Affairs in the FWS has been requested to develop a strategy for implementation of the report's nocost options during Fiscal 1986. 3. Specific actions have not been taken to respond to the recommendation of Congress, contained in the International Environmental Protection Act of 1984 (P.L. 98-563), to consider expanding the international operations of the National Park Service and the Fish and Wildlife Service. As indicted by our responses to the questions in your letter of November 10th, several of Interior's technical agencies, including the FWS and NPS, maintain active international programs. Changes in these, or any other program areas, however, must be accomplished in light of overall bureau and Departmental mandates as well as available resources. 4. The Secretary has delegated to the Director of the Fish and Wildlife Service responsibility for implementing statutory and international treaty responsibilities for fish, wildlife, and plants, including but not limited to threatened and endangered species (as in Section 8 of the Endangered Species Act). In carrying out these responsibilities, the FWS relies upon the assistance of other federal agencies, state governments, and appropriate private institutions. 5. Since most of the international cooperative programs conducted by Interior's technical agencies are fully reimbursed, funds appropriated to those agencies are not normally expended for travel related to international program implementation. However, the Department and some of its bureaus expend limited appropriated funds for travel related to implementation of treaties, related public laws, and international agreements. For example: The Office of the Solicitor, the Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs have funded participation in negotiation of the US-Canada Pacific Salmon Treaty, signed March 18, 1985. The FWS and BIA will spend Fiscal 1986 appropriated funds for administrative and technical support of treaty implementation. The Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Park Service expend appropriated funds for travel related to implementation of the Western Hemisphere Convention. The FWS uses appropriated funds for travel related to implementation of the International Convention on Polar Bears, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), and several international fisheries management agreements. We are unable to respond to your request for the dollar level and percent of total appropriated travel funds expended for international activities in FY 84 and FY 85. Neither the bureaus nor the Department maintains records from which such information could be recapitulated. Bearing in mind that the international activities on which we are reporting are, in general, fully reimbursed, we believe the dollar amounts and percentages would be very small. In addition, any such figures would be misleading because they would cover a number of international activities that are not cooperative but instead are extensions of domestic program missions. 6. Cooperation with the countries of Africa is undertaken only if a request for assistance is accompanied by funding. Currently, the Bureau of Reclamation and the National Park Service are providing assistance. Recently, the Geological Survey entered into discussions with State Department officials about possible assistance to several countries, but no cooperative projects have been agreed upon. The Bureau of Reclamation is providing the following reimbursable assistance: Egypt: (1) Technical advisory services regarding design, fabrication, and installation of runners and associated equipment for turbines on the High Aswan Dam. These services were requested by AID and reimbursed by AID. The work began in 1982 and is expected to be completed in 1990. (2) A hydraulic engineer is assisting with installation of an automated hydrologic data collection system (Master Water Plan) in the Nile River Basin. This service was requested by AID and is funded by AID. Work began in 1977 and will be completed in 1987. Morocco: Technical advisory services to design and assist implementation of a weather modification and demonstration program to augment the natural water supply. These services were requested by the King; they are reimbursed by AID. Somalia: A reconnaissance-level water and land study of the Juba and Lower Shebelli Valleys is being conducted to investigate water resources and prepare a master plan for land development, particularly irrigation. This service was requested by the World Bank and is reimbursed by the Bank. The project is being implemented under the authority of the Foreign Assistance Act (Section 607). Sudan: Under an agreement with the Government of the Sudan, technical advisory services are being provided for a six-month study of irrigation projects along the Blue Nile and the White Nile. The review will enable the World Bank, which provides funding, to define a 10-year investment program for rehabilitation and modernization of irrigation projects. The legal authority being used is provided under Section 607 of the Foreign Assistance Act. Zaire: Technical advisory services are being provided for design, construction, and initial operation of the IngaShaba Transmission Line, a 1700KM extra-high voltage long line between the Inga Dam (near Kinshasa) to the mineral-rich Shaba area. The work, which began 12-years ago, is conducted under an agreement with the Government of Zaire, which reimburses cost. The agreement was concluded under the authority of Section 607 of the Foreign Assistance Act. The National Park Service is providing the following assistance: Peace Corps volunteers are assisting 21 African countries in parks natural resources management - under the NPS/Peace Corps Cooperative Agreement. On-site short-term advisory services, in areas ranging from national/local environmental education plans to arid/semiarid land development strategies, are beng provided to 13 African countries with the participation of other U.S. Government agencies and the private sector at the request of AID. Preparation for Sudan and Ghana of development guidelines, resource management handbooks, and legal/regulatory case studies; and preparation of Renewable Resource Trends in East Africa, for use in NPS co-sponsored regional training programs and workshops - both at the request of AID. Research on environmental education communication techniques on favorable non-traditional land-use practices to arrest desertification, for use in advising pre-literate cultures; and assistance with a regional endangered plant workshop for East Africa - both with support from AID and IUCN. APPENDIX II TUESDAY, APRIL 22, 1986 ADDITIONAL MATERIAL SUBMITTED FOR THE HEARING RECORD STATEMENT OF RICHARD T. MONTOYA, ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF THE Mr. Chairman and members of the Subcommittee on Public Lands, I am here today to comment on H. R. 4568, a bill that would authorize the Secretary of the Interior and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation to undertake international activities in foreign countries. We in the Department want you to know that we appreciate your effort in drafting H.R. 4568. However, the time available since receiving a copy of the bill has not permitted full interagency review of H.R. 4568 within the Executive Branch. The views I am expressing, therefore, are only those of the Department of the Interior. H.R. 4568 The substantive provisions of H. R. 4568 would have the following effect: section 3 - would require the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation and the Secretary of the Interior to conduct international activities; (410) |