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Highway, fish, and wildlife coordination

After several years of coordination effort, officials of the Bureau of Public Roads agreed to issue a policy, known as instructional memorandum 21-5-63, on June 12, 1963, which instructed State highway departments to fully cooperate with State fish and wildlife agencies in highway construction matters of concern to fish and wildlife interests.

On two occasions in the past fiscal year, the Bureau has conducted an evaluation of the programs status within the States. Initially, the mechanics of coordination were surveyed, and several difficulties corrected after BPR review of the Bureau report. The second survey was more intensive and resulted in highlighting 11 major problems faced by State fish and wildlife interests within the highway program. A brief report which summarized the findings was distributed to all 50 States, Puerto Rico, and 20 interested Government and private conservation organizations. An exchange of know-how in matters of both working for fish and wildlife enhancement and the mitigation of damages thereto have increasingly become apparent among the States as a result of these efforts in coordination.

Comments on applications for FPC projects will increase by 30 to 40 per year for the next 3 or 4 years. This results from a U.S. Supreme Court decision, dated May 3, 1965. It affirmed the Federal Power Commission's authority to license hydroelectric projects on nonnavigable waters affecting the interests of interstate or foreign commerce. Potential applicants for 80 of these projects have notified the Federal Power Commission of their interest to apply for licenses.

Several years of study and planning effort for fish and wildlife in the Bureau of Reclamation's Garrison diversion unit, North Dakota have resulted in the inclusion of 36 major and more than 32 minor fish and wildlife development areas in the project plan as authorized by Public Law 89-108, August 5, 1965. The 146,530 acres of land will be acquired and developed at a cost of $15,649,000. Water for the 56,157 acres of marsh and open water to be developed on these units will be provided from the project works. To be managed primarily for waterfowl production, 61.4 percent of each unit is for mitigation of wildlife losses and 38.6 percent is enhancement. Additional public benefits will accrue from hunting of waterfowl, upland game, and big game, and from fishing. Eight of the major units will be administered by the North Dakota State Game and Fish Department and two by the South Dakota Department of Game, Fish and Parks with local cost-sharing under a formula recently established in the Federal Water Projects Recreation Act. The remaining units will be managed by the Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife.

The 1967 estimate is broken down by areas as follows:

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Detailed studies of projects being planned and constructed by the Corps of Engineers and Bureau of Reclamation and also reconnaissance surveys in the Missouri River Basin will be financed by funds included in the public works appropriation estimates.

Financing the river basin studies program

The following tabulation shows, by sources, total funds available to the Bureau in 1966 and 1967 for financing river basin studies:

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The following is a statement of studies and number of project reports under the river basin studies program:

3, 028, 741

3, 183, 000

644, 400

533, 800

3,673, 141

3,716, 800

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Mr. DENTON. Briefly describe for the committee just what your responsibilities are under this activity.

Mr. GOTTSCHALK. The program, initially, was started as an advisory service to the major construction agencies the Corps of Engineers and Bureau of Reclamation, to try to maximize the potential benefits from water development projects, and to minimize the damages to fish and wildlife that might result from those projects.

Since that time, the overall responsibility has been broadened through amendments to the Coordination Act, and so we now are cooperating in an advisory capacity with the other agencies that are involved in major programs that will have an effect on fish and wildlife habitat such as

Mr. DENTON. The Wabash River.

Mr. GOTTSCHALK (continuing). The Wabash River, right, the comprehensive flood control survey.

Mr. DENTON. And the Ohio.
Mr. GOTTSCHALK. The Ohio.

We work with the new Department of Urban Affairs, for example. It used to be the FHA and HHFA in some of their planning programs. The FPC is another agency that we work with. We make recommendations to the FPC for conditions to be imposed in the license that they may grant to applicants, all this sort of thing, with the idea of trying to get the most possible out of wildlife benefits.

Mr. DENTON. The Corps of Engineers furnished most of the funds though, didn't they?

Mr. GOTTSCHALK. Yes. Most of the money comes from the Corps of Engineers. We also get a substantial amount by transfer from the Bureau of Reclamation.

Mr. DENTON. In the Wabash Valley, you have been handicapped somewhat by lack of personnel. Have you corrected that?

Mr. GOTTSCHALK. If I am not mistaken, at the present time our staff, which is located near Cincinnati, handling this is up to full strength.

Mr. DENTON. I am glad you have the Cincinnati staff doing that. Mr. GOTTSCHALK. Well, I would just like to comment that this activity has been one of the most productive things that our Bureau has ever gotten involved in, because it has placed the emphasis on the opportunities for the modification of these large projects so that by the expenditure of relatively small amounts of money, we get tremendous wildlife benefits back from them, and we get in the position of making positive contributions rather than taking a negative position of just objecting to things that are happening.

The Garrison project out in North Dakota, is an example in which the benefits from fish and wildlife are a part of the overall justification for the project, but the resulting improvements that will come from this project through increased waterfall areas will total over 100,000 acres, just in that one project.

There will be very real benefits to fish and wildlife from the Garrison project as a result of our technical staff working closely with the Reclamation technical staff in focusing attention on these places and trying to do something with them.

Mr. DENTON. I hope you can expedite the Wabash River project because that has been pending for some time.

Mr. GOTTSCHALK. After our hearing last year, we doublechecked the situation out there, and have consulted with Mr. Burwell, who is our regional director in Minneapolis, and I was assured several months ago that we are up to schedule with the Corps of Engineers on this project. In other words, we are not holding up the completion of that plan at the present time.

URBAN PLANNING ASSISTANCE

Mr. DENTON. You have budgeted $12,000 for urban planning assistance program. What is your responsibility in this activity?

Mr. GOTTSCHALK. It is a planning responsibility that we have. The urban renewal program does make provision for the inclusion of open space in connection with various types of housing projects, and what we do is to work with the local officials in what was FHHA, and in the urban renewal program, to identify the fish and wildlife values that may exist in this local community so that these can be recognized

59-523-66-pt. 2- -7

and, if necessary, worked into a park, for example, or maybe a smalltown supported wildlife refuge, or something of that character.

COMPREHENSIVE RIVER BASIN PLANNING

Mr. DENTON. You are requesting an increase of $54,100 for comprehensive river basin planning. What is the justification for this increase?

Mr. GOTTSCHALK. The Department of Agriculture is not authorized to make transfers of funds in the same way that the Corps of Engineers has been doing. Yet we are called on to report to them on the effect of their small watershed program, including their Public Law 566 projects.

Mr. DENTON. That is small watersheds, is it not?

Mr. GOTTSCHALK. Yes, that is right. And the increase here is to give us the funds that are necessary to follow through on this responsibility across the country.

Mr. DENTON. These are mostly small watershed projects.

Mr. GOTTSCHALK. Yes, sir.

Mr. DENTON. What is the status of the projects at this time?

Mr. GOTTSCHALK. I cannot tell you how many we have worked on. I can give you a statistical summary in just a second.

Mr. DENTON. You can put that in the record.

Mr. GOTTSCHALK. All right, we will put it in the record. (The information follows:)

STATEMENT CONCERNING STATUS OF PROJECTS IN COMPREHENSIVE RIVER BASIN STUDIES

There are now 21 comprehensive studies in progress and 13 additional studies will be initiated before 1970. Principal emphasis is upon "framework" or "type I" studies which outline in a general way the needs of the individual basins and indicate what works of improvement are needed and approximately in what locations. Later studies will provide details of specific project structures, sites, and economics. Planning extends both to water and related land resource problems. The Corps of Engineers is spearheading 20 of the studies now underway.

Department of Interior Agencies are generally coordinated by regional coordinators in their contribution at field level. The entire effort is coordinated and supervised by the Water Resources Council consisting of the Secretaries of Interior (chairman); Agriculture; Army; and Health, Education, and Welfare, and Chairman of the Federal Power Commission.

The Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife is a full contributor to the planning effort in all basins. The expected status of the resource, the human needs therefor, means of meeting those needs through project planning and development, and general conservation of the resource are all considered in this connection. Financing is by transfer from the principal planning agency, the Corps of Engineers or the Bureau of Reclamation. Contributions by the Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife to the SCS portion of such studies are funded from moneys appropriated directly, since transfers from the Department of Agriculture for this purpose are prohibited by law.

The Missouri River Basin comprehensive is funded from the regular transfer Item in the Bureau of Reclamation budget for "other Interior agencies." Total costs of projects underway in fiscal year 1966 are estimated at $90 million. The Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife expects to spend approximately $2 million on these projects in total and is spending about $450,300 in fiscal year 1967. The Bureau expects to complete its work on these studies by the end of fiscal year 1970-two by the end of fiscal year 1966, four more by the end of fiscal year 1967, six more by the end of fiscal year 1968, seven more by the end of fiscal year 1969, and the last two by the end of fiscal year 1970.

A tabulation is enclosed.

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Mr. DENTON. What I am trying to get at is why do you want this increase?

Mr. GOTTSCHALK. Well, we simply have to work on the planning requests that we have gotten from the Department of Agriculture. Mr. DENTON. I think it is very important that you do this work on the small watersheds. At least it would be in my part of the country. Mr. GOTTSCHALK. Well, we think it is very important. As a matter of fact, I think I can truthfully say there has been some criticism that some of these projects have gone forward without enough attention having been paid to the fish and wildlife resources that were affected by them.

Mr. DENTON. In my part of the country they get fish for stocking from the State in a good many cases.

Mr. GOTTSCHALK. Well, our work would encompass the stocking that is done, but it also involves such things as trying to develop one of those ponds so it might have more utility for, say, waterfowl or for fish and recreation without the need for stocking necessarily.

PESTICIDES REGISTRATION

Mr. DENTON. The next activity is "Pesticides registration." We will insert pages 106 through 108 of the justification. I have no questions on this.

(The pages follow:)

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