[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 152 (Thursday, November 12, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2330]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        SUDBURY, ASSABET, AND CONCORD WILD AND SCENIC RIVERS ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. EDWARD J. MARKEY

                            of massachusetts

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, November 12, 1998

  Mr. MARKEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 1110, the Sudbury, 
Assabet, and Concord Wild and Scenic Rivers Act. Wild and scenic areas 
are found not only in the vast expanses of the American West but also 
in pockets in the midst of the cities and towns of the East. As the 
areas around Boston, including my own district, become increasingly 
crowded and urban, it is important to preserve natural areas where the 
beauty and tranquillity of nature can become a part of the everyday 
lives of local communities.
  Through the Sudbury, Assabet, and Concord rivers has flowed a 
remarkable current of history and beauty. A century ago Ralph Waldo 
Emerson commemorated events that took place above the Concord River a 
century before that with his unforgettable words, ``by the rude bridge 
that arched the flood, their flag to April's breeze unfurled, here once 
the embattl'd farmers stood, and fired the shot heard around the 
world.'' Over 100 years ago, Nathanial Hawthorne wrote of the beauty of 
the Assabet: ``Rowing our boat against the current, between wide 
meadows, we turn aside into the Assabeth. A more lovely stream than 
this, for a mile above its junction with the concord, has never flowed 
on Earth,--nowhere, indeed, except to lave the interior of a poet's 
imagination.''
  Today we have even greater need of scenic rivers to excite the 
``poet's imagination'' in each of us. this bill, by giving Wild and 
Scenic River status to the Assabet, Sudbury, and Concord rivers, will 
help ensure that they continue to inspire local communities and the 
nation in this and future generations. I am glad to join the entire 
delegations of Massachusetts and New Hampshire in its support.

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