[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 7 (Thursday, January 12, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Page S825]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


       THE WALLOWA COUNTY-NEZ PERCE SALMON HABITAT RECOVERY PLAN

  Mr. PACKWOOD. Mr. President, I rise today to congratulate a very 
special effort by a group of Oregonians that could serve as a model for 
this body in the 104th Congress.
  Wallowa County in the northeast corner of my home State is one of 
Oregon's smallest counties. Yet, that has not stopped the devastating 
effects of the sole-purpose Endangered Species Act from being felt 
there. Just this year alone, two sawmills have closed in Wallowa 
County, taking away over 100 jobs. This is a significant impact on a 
population of only 7,000.
  Every Senator knows my feelings on the Endangered Species Act, and 
the critical need that it be changed to reflect the needs of people as 
well as bugs and plants. I am quite hopeful that we will soon reform 
this act so that the families in Wallowa County and throughout Oregon 
who have been so gravely injured by it can be made whole.
  But I will not use my time today to restate my concerns about the 
Endangered Species Act and the tens of thousands of families whose 
hopes and dreams it has shattered in my State in the past 5 years. 
Instead, I want to focus on the positive response the people of Wallowa 
County have had to the listing of several species of salmon on the 
Columbia-Snake River System.
  Residents of Wallowa County and representatives of the Nez Perce 
tribe, in cooperation with the U.S. Forest Service, have developed the 
Wallowa County-Nez Perce Salmon Habitat Recovery Plan. This plan is a 
responsible, locally developed effort to protect not only habitat for 
threatened and endangered species, but also to protect the people of 
northeastern Oregon and their economic base. This plan takes into 
account the deteriorating condition of the northeast Oregon forests, as 
well as the need for timber cutting and salvage, species protection, 
cattle grazing, and other uses.
  Here is a working example of what Americans asked for when they went 
to the polls. This is not some huge new bureaucratic effort seeking to 
manage the public lands of Wallowa County by remote control from 
Washington, DC. Instead, the people affected put their heads together, 
and using the best information available, crafted a workable, 
meaningful plan. If there was any single message last November, it was 
a cry for less Government intrusion. My friends in Wallowa County have 
been sending that message for a long time.
  The bureaucracy's response was, unfortunately, predictable. The 
National Marine Fisheries Service and the Forest Service have refused 
to adopt this site specific plan that can be put into place, and begin 
to have a positive effect, immediately. Instead, these agencies have 
settled on waiting for an overall framework called ``PACFISH,'' to be 
ready for implementation. PACFISH is not site specific, and calls for 
extensive nonmanagement areas. It certainly was not developed with 
Wallowa County's specific needs in mind, and reflects now-outdated 
radical preservationist dogma.
  I believe that the citizens of Wallowa County, who, after all, are 
the ones who have to live with any final decisions that are made, 
deserve a great deal of credit for developing the Wallowa County-Nez 
Perce Salmon Habitat Recovery Plan. I believe this document should, and 
will, become the lead plan for salmon habitat recovery in Northeast 
Oregon.
  There is hope for the families of Wallowa County in this Congress. I 
believe we will be able to take strong action to reform this Nation's 
restrictive environmental laws and regulations. Until that day comes, 
however, the families of Wallowa County are not simply waiting for 
change. They are promoting change, and sending us a message that is 
unmistakable. I hope we are all listening.


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