[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 142 (Tuesday, October 4, 1994)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: October 4, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
EXCHANGE OF LANDS WITHIN GATES OF THE ARCTIC NATIONAL PARK AND PRESERVE

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                               speech of

                           HON. PAT WILLIAMS

                               of montana

                    in the house of representatives

                        Monday, October 3, 1994.

  Mr. WILLIAMS. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the chairman of the 
subcommittee, Mr. Vento, and the sponsor of the Salmon River bill, Mr. 
LaRocco, for working with me on a provision requiring a study of Rock 
Creek, MT, for its suitability as a wild and scenic river, pursuant to 
section 5(a) of the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act.
  Rock Creek runs approximately 55 miles from its headwaters in the 
Anaconda Pintler Wilderness to the confluence with the Clark Fork River 
about 15 miles southeast of Missoula. Rock Creek may have as many as 10 
major tributaries which may meet the eligibility standard of the Wild 
and Scenic Rivers Act; the determination of which tributaries should be 
considered in the study is a discretionary decision for the Forest 
Service.
  Mr. Speaker, were I, for a day, endowed with a cosmic ability to make 
a stream, I would use Rock Creek as the model; it is a perfect stream. 
I first fished Rock Creek when I was a student at the University of 
Montana in the 1950's, and I would say to my colleagues that those 
waters stay with you forever. The riffles, the deep pools, the rainbow, 
cutthroat, and bull trout, it all stays in your head.
  Montanans have long treasured Rock Creek, one of Montana's blue 
ribbon trout streams. To the Montanans who regularly float and fish 
Rock Creek, it is simply one of our State's premier free flowing, 
pristine, and relatively undeveloped river systems.
  Rock Creek was one of Montana's early conservation battlegrounds. In 
response to Forest Service plans for extensive logging in Rock Creek in 
the mid-1960's, local fishermen organized out of concern that roading 
and timber harvesting could adversely affect the water quality, and the 
fishery, of Rock Creek.
  Out of that controversy emerged the Rock Creek Advisory Council, in 
which anglers and conservationists sat down with loggers, ranchers and 
agency people to find agreement on logging in Rock Creek. The first 
Rock Creek Advisory Council recommendations, adopted by the Forest 
Service, were for the careful design of National Forest projects to 
minimize damage to water quality, and to conduct careful before and 
after monitoring to verify that a project did not adversely affect 
water quality.
  Since then, Montanans have greeted proposals for further mining and 
logging in the Rock Creek basin firmly, and consistently: The water 
quality of this blue ribbon trout stream is one of the Treasure State's 
treasures and must be protected, period.
  Nonetheless, the threats to Rock Creek continue. There is renewed 
interest in gold mining among some of Rock Creek's historic mining 
districts. Modern technology enables miners to extract an ounce of gold 
from 100,000 tons of ore profitably, threatening broadly mineralized 
areas like Rock Creek. There is renewed interest in timber harvesting.
  Threats of subdivision have energized local people to raise funds for 
conservation easements, in which landowners are compensated for 
committing their property to remain whole.
  The Wild Scenic Rivers Act lends Federal protection and status to 
those free flowing rivers where outstanding natural qualities, 
recreational opportunities, ecological diversity, and clean water are 
paramount. Through the study process the U.S. Forest Service will 
review the public, private landowner, and local governmental concerns 
about Rock Creek, and make recommendations to the President and the 
Congress regarding its suitability for designation under the Wild and 
Scenic River System.
  For the record, there is nothing in the study status that affects 
private property rights. Those who own land along Rock Creek should be 
assured that their prerogatives in the use of their land are unchanged 
as a result of this legislation.
  This bill begins the process of deciding whether Rock Creek is an 
appropriate addition to the National Wild and Scenic River System. The 
National Wild and Scenic Rivers Act is, simply, the strongest statutory 
tool we have for the protection of natural, free flowing rivers.

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