[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 49 (Monday, April 12, 1999)]
[House]
[Pages H1840-H1841]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
SAVE THE TIDAL BASIN BEAVERS
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the
gentlewoman from Idaho (Mrs. Chenoweth) is recognized for 5 minutes.
Mrs. CHENOWETH. Madam Speaker, I would like to identify with the
remarks of my colleagues tonight on the very heavy issue of Kosovo.
However, Madam Speaker, I am going to turn our attention back clear
across to this side of the globe and to Washington, D.C. because, Madam
Speaker, it is with great alarm that I ask my colleagues to join me in
asking the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to provide immediate and
emergency protection for the Tidal Basin beaver.
Over 200 years ago General George Washington chopped down a cherry
tree. Now, had General Washington had this happen at this time in his
life, and a little later on, and if he lived today, he would have been
disgraced in the nightly news, his wife trapped and hauled off, with
his child being pursued by trappers.
I do not think this is the way to go, Mr. Speaker. It is time that we
stand up and stop this pitiful removal of Bucky, the beaver. When you
remove an indigenous species the effects are longstanding, and these
beaver have made their pilgrimage back to their homeland where their
ancestors once frolicked. They built dams and raised their families.
The cherry trees surrounding the Tidal Basin are not even native to
the District of Columbia, they were imported from Japan. These beaver
are indigenous to this area. This is their natural habitat. These
beaver are also an important part of the ecology in the District of
Columbia and its unique environment.
Out West it is the policy of the Federal agencies to remove the
people, rather than the animals, when there is a conflict between
people and wildlife. Now, beaver are members of the Rodentia species,
which include rabbits, squirrels, chipmunks, and rats.
Out West, in California, when a farmer accidentally ran over a rat, a
kangaroo rat, with his tractor, the farmer was arrested and charged
with a criminal taking of an endangered species, and his tractor was
impounded so he could not use it anymore.
I just think that we need to bring equality in the way that we handle
threatened and endangered species.
Out in Idaho, the Federal Government is reintroducing gray wolves and
grizzly bears into and near populated areas. The Fish and Wildlife
Service claim this reintroduction will restore the Canadian gray wolf,
which never did live in Idaho, and the grizzly to its natural habitat.
Although I think this is debatable, I strongly suggest equal
treatment for Bucky the beaver, the Tidal Basin beaver. These little
beaver deserve equal rights and protection under the law, if not for
the sake of the animal kingdom, Madam Speaker, for the sake of
humanity.
If these rugged, pioneering beaver can make it in the polluted and
murky conditions of the Potomac and the Tidal Basin, then by goodness,
they deserve to be free. This is nature's way of reintroducing the
native beaver. It is a natural occurrence, and who are we to fool with
Mother Nature?
As the future of the captive victim, Bucky the beaver, lies at the
hands of the Fish and Wildlife Service, her mate and offspring are in
danger of further separation from each other, their way of life, and
the homestead that they were so diligently trying to create.
Gene pool testing will undoubtedly determine that Bucky the beaver is
an evolutionarily significant unit. This distinct population segment of
the Rodentia family must be saved. If the Canadian gray wolf and the
grizzly bear are good for reintroduction in Idaho, then we ought to
leave the poor little beaver alone in their native habitat in
Washington, D.C.
Madam Speaker, I would like to say that this issue has spread all
across the Nation, and even up into Alaska, where today a resolution
was introduced in the Alaskan legislature by the majority leader of the
Senate, Robin Taylor. I will enter that into the record, as well as a
poem about Bucky the beaver, whose lyrics were written by Senator Robin
Taylor, and they are very, very good.
I would like to make one last plea that we do all we can to save
Bucky the beaver.
The poem and resolution referred to are as follows:
Bucky Beaver
[Lyrics By Senator Robin Taylor, Alaska State Senate, To be sung to the
tune of Davy Crockett]
Bucky Bucky Beaver
Lets fight to keep him free.
A Potomac flood left him a facin'
Life alone in the Tidal Basin,
He survived right well with the squirrels and the bees
And chewed up a couple of Cherry Trees.
Bucky Bucky Beaver
Let's fight to keep him free.
The Park police now steal his food
Try to trap him and treat him rude,
He's a unique species and proud of that
A livin' on some critical habitat.
Bucky Bucky Beaver
Let's fight to keep him free.
Critters like Bucky sometimes don't fit
The parky plans of the hypocrits.
But he needs our help so one and all
Give Al Gore a personal call . . . tell him
Bucky Bucky Beaver . . . let's fight to keep him free.
____
CS For Senate Joint Resolution No. 20(RES), in the Legislature of the
State of Alaska, Twenty-First Legislature--First Session
(By the Senate Resources Committee)
Sponsor(s): Senator Taylor
a resolution
Relating to the removal of beaver from Washington, D.C.
Be it Resolved by the Legislature of the State of Alaska:
Wheras the National Park Service is attempting to trap and
remove at least two beavers from the vicinity of the Potomac
Tidal Basin near the national Mall in Washington, D.C.,
because the beavers have downed four cherry trees and five
white cedar trees; and
Wheras the natural wild and free roaming beaver were
trapped to extinction in Washington, D.C., and the Potomac
Tidal Basin beaver are only retaking habitat that the species
has occupied forever and in which man is the trespasser; and
Wheras the return of beaver to Washington, D.C., will
enhance the biological diversity of the nation's capital and
the integrity of its residents, as cherry tree eating beavers
cannot tell a lie; and
Wheras the unrestrained development of government
buildings, highways, and urban sprawl in Washington, D.C. has
destroyed beaver habitat, and immediate steps should be taken
to halt all major construction projects; and
Wheras human activity in or around the Potomac Tidal Basin
will undoubtedly have adverse effects on the new beaver
colony; and
Wheras Washington, D.C., and the nation as a whole would
benefit from greater efforts on the part of the National Park
Service to assist and protect wildlife by excluding people
from areas where wildlife is attempting to reestablish a
foothold on its natural range in the nation's capital; and
Whereas federal law requires that the Potomac Tidal Basin
is now, because of the beavers' pioneering effort, a critical
habitat area; and
Whereas critical habitat areas are uniquely rare, and,
without immediate enforcement of federal laws, this unique
subspecies of Potomac Tidal Basin beaver will again become
extinct; and
Whereas we have no information or good science about the
habitat of the ``Potomac Tidal Basin beaver,'' and a task
force of scientists should immediately be impaneled and all
human activity in the tidal basin area halted until a
thorough and complete analysis has been completed; and
[[Page H1841]]
Whereas the National Academy of Sciences has been studying
predator control in Alaska for five years, and the National
Park Service has labeled these beavers as very evasive and
wily ``tree predators''; and
Whereas the federal government is, over objections,
reintroducing gray wolves, grizzly bear, and lynx into
several western states in order to enhance the biological
diversity in those states; and
Whereas the National Park Service is closing Glacier Bay
National Park and Preserve to fishing for crabs because the
crabs are an essential element of the ecosystem of the park
and the long established and sustainable crab fishery is
inconsistent with the preservation of natural crab
populations; and
Whereas the policy of the National Park Service in Alaska
and several other states is to remove the people rather than
the animals when there is a conflict between people and
wildlife; and
Whereas federal law provides for extensive penalties for
harassment of endangered species;
Be it Resolved That the Alaska State Legislature
respectfully requests that the National Park Service cease
its efforts to remove the beaver from the Potomac Tidal Basin
in Washington, D.C., and assist the reestablishment of a
healthy beaver population in the nation's capital; and be it
Further Resolved That the Alaska State Legislature
respectfully requests the Fish and Wildlife Services to
exercise its federal authority and cite, with criminal
violations, members and contractors of the National Park
Service who harass the Potomac Tidal Basin beavers; and be it
Further Resolved That the Alaska State Legislature
respectfully requests the National Park Service to
investigate the habitat requirements for beaver in
Washington, D.C., and the adaptations that beaver have made
to cope with the unique urban environment of Washington,
D.C., establish protected beaver habitat areas in Washington,
D.C., and use good science in its actions regarding beaver in
Washington, D.C.
Copies of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Al
Gore, Jr., Vice-President of the United States and President
of the U.S. Senate; to the Honorable Bruce Babbitt,
Secretary, U.S. Department of the Interior, to Robert G.
Stanton, Director, National Park Service, U.S. Department of
the Interior, to Jamie Rappaport Clark, Director, Fish and
Wildlife Service, U.S. Department of the Interior; to all
members of the U.S. Congress; to the Honorable John
Kitzhaber, Governor, State of Oregon; to Paul G. Risser,
Ph.D., President, Oregon State University; and to the
Honorable Ted Stevens and the Honorable Frank Murkowski, U.S.
Senators, and the Honorable Don Young, U.S. Representative,
members of the Alaska delegation in Congress.
____________________