[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 40 (Thursday, April 14, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: April 14, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                S. 21, CALIFORNIA DESERT PROTECTION ACT

 Mr. MACK. Mr. President, while I believe that it is important 
to respect the wishes of Senators on public land issues in their State, 
I am concerned that this legislation will have an impact beyond the 
borders of California.
  I do not think that you can add 4 million acres to the National Park 
System without impacting the existing parks in the system. Operation 
and maintenance at existing parks and monuments is currently 
inadequate. Over the break I had the chance to visit the Fort Jefferson 
National Monument in the Florida Keys. While this is a beautiful and 
historical part of American history, I was saddened to see the walls of 
the fort crumbling. This is just one small example of the enormous 
backlog of existing needs in the current system.
  This legislation also requires the purchase or exchange of about 
700,000 acres of private and State lands by the Federal Government. I 
am told that there are already 12,000 private land owners with land 
inholdings to be acquired at a cost of around $6 billion. With a total 
land acquisition budget of approximately $100 million per year it will 
take around 60 years to finish the task currently at hand.
  I understand the importance of this legislation to the Senators from 
California, but I am concerned about the health of the existing park 
system, and most critically the Everglades National Park. As my 
colleagues know, the Everglades is in critical condition, and Florida 
Bay is experiencing massive algae blooms and a 100,000 acre sea grass 
die off that threatens the breeding grounds for young shrimp, crabs, 
lobsters, and fish. Part of the solution of this problem is increasing 
the water flows through the Everglades National Park to Florida Bay. In 
order to do this we must raise the water tables and periodically flood 
lands surrounding the Everglades National Park. If we are going to 
flood this land, we have to buy it.
  As a final point, there is not a clear consensus from the State of 
California that they want this legislation. Should we be spending 
scarce Federal dollars to add land to an already overburdened national 
park system when it is not clear that the State wants those dollars to 
be spent?
  I cannot in good conscience support an additional 4 million acres to 
the national park system until some of the existing problems are 
resolved.

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