[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.

                          ____________________