[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 74 (Friday, May 25, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5672-S5673]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             RURAL AMERICA

  Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, some weeks ago, I was on an airplane, and 
I had a laptop computer with me and my briefcase. Like most of my 
colleagues sitting on an airplane, I went through my briefcase and 
found a letter from the U.S. Park Service. I read the letter, and it 
provoked me to get my laptop computer out of its case and put it on the 
tray table, and I started typing.
  I created a message for the U.S. Park Service. Here is what their 
letter said to me. The U.S. Park Service wrote me a letter and said in 
the Teddy Roosevelt National Park, one of their picnic grounds was 
being colonized by prairie dogs. So they were going to do something 
called a ``scoping'' exercise and an EA, called an environmental 
assessment, to think about spending a quarter of a million dollars to 
move the picnic grounds.
  I read and reread this Park Service letter about the scoping and the 
environmental assessment they were doing to spend a quarter of a 
million dollars to move the picnic grounds, and I sent them a letter.
  What I said to the Park Service was that I found it interesting that 
they had the time to do scoping and EAs on these kinds of issues. I 
said, at the moment, we are in a rather complicated budget fight in 
Congress, but you have solicited my opinion, so let me give you a few 
thoughts.
  I said: I am not unsympathetic to prairie dogs. I think they are cute 
little creatures. They, unlike the rats, were blessed with a furry tail 
and a button nose and they have a good deal more human sympathy, 
therefore, than rats do.
  I asked the Park Service what would have been the Park Service's 
response if it had been a group of rats that had colonized the picnic 
area rather than prairie dogs. Then I thought better of asking because 
maybe they would have had a larger EA and scoping mission.

  My point to them was: Do not waste the taxpayers' money; do not move 
the picnic grounds, move the prairie dogs.
  I said: When I was growing up, about 50 miles from where they have 
this problem in the Badlands, I was growing up in Regent, ND, we had a 
group of rats ``colonize,'' to use the Park Service's word, our horse 
barn. I was about 14 at the time, and my dad said the rats could live a 
very good life just 1 mile from our barn in the town dumps, which is 
where a lot of rats live, and he said he would like me to enlist a 
couple of my schoolmates and see if we couldn't move the rats.
  It turns out these rats were no match for three 14-year-old boys. We 
very quickly retook the Dorgan horse barn. We understood that we could 
do that without a lot of effort.
  Getting back to the prairie dogs, I told the Park Service that I 
figure there are about 1.4 million acres of ground in the Badlands in 
North Dakota in which prairie dogs can, do, and are colonizing. They 
have many prairie dogs in the Badlands. So the prairie dogs can 
colonize in a million and a half acres or so. They just cannot colonize 
in this picnic area.
  I said: The way to handle these prairie dogs is to find somebody who 
can communicate with them. That is not hard. We have a lot of folks who 
ranch and farm and spend a lot of time around animals, and one very 
quickly learns how to communicate with animals. I raised some horses. 
We raised cattle, and we learned how to communicate with animals.
  I said to the Park Service: If you do not have anybody who knows how 
to communicate with an animal, go out in a ranching area and get some 
instruction, and once they have taught you how to send certain 
communications to animals, go back and have a little discussion with 
those prairie dogs and tell the prairie dogs they are not welcome in 
the picnic area; that you do not want to spend a quarter of a million 
dollars of the taxpayers' money to move the picnic area, and you want 
them to leave. And if they will not leave, I said to the Park Service, 
here is a cost-free way to deal with it: Get about three 14-year-old 
boys from somewhere in that area, and they will take care of that 
problem real quick for you.
  As I was sitting on this airplane thinking about all the things we 
confront in rural America--yes in and near the Badlands where I grew 
up--I was thinking that we are not short of prairie dogs; we are short 
of people. We have Federal agencies that want to treat lightly that 
which is serious and then treat seriously that which is light, and they 
do not quite understand.
  The real problem in our part of the country, where the Park Service 
is worried about prairie dogs and picnic areas, is that human beings 
are becoming an endangered species. All of our rural counties are 
shrinking like prunes. The counties are shrinking in population. People 
are leaving, not coming in. Farmers and ranchers are leaving the land 
at an alarming rate. Small towns are shrinking. Many rural counties are 
very fast becoming a wilderness area. That is not by Federal 
designation, it is the way things are working in rural America.
  I said to the Park Service: When I received your letter about prairie 
dogs, picnic areas, and environmental assessments, and scoping, it just 
seemed to be such an unusual bureaucratic effort for such a minor 
issue.
  Having prairie dogs move into a picnic area, in my judgment, does not 
rank up there with having people moving out of rural America. So I 
said: You have to excuse me for being a little impatient.

  Just once, I told the Park Service, I would like to see a Federal 
agency crank up a little energy, a little emotion about the real 
problems facing rural America.
  Have my colleagues ever heard of a Federal agency say: This county 
has shrunk 50 percent; we are going to do a scoping exercise to figure 
out what we can do to solve that problem.
  Have my colleagues ever heard of a Federal agency cranking up an 
effort to do an environmental assessment of what is happening with the 
creation of

[[Page S5673]]

wilderness areas, where people are moving out, jobs are leaving, and 
people on Main Street are having a devil of a time keeping their front 
door open because rural areas are shrinking?
  Have my colleagues heard a Federal agency say that matters to them; 
they are going to make an effort to find out about that?
  No; oh no. Scoping and environmental assessments are reserved for 
dealing with furry little creatures that inhabit a picnic area. God 
forbid a Federal agency ought to spend its money and its time worrying 
about a few prairie dogs.
  Again, we are just not short of prairie dogs, we are short of people 
in rural America. I would like very much just once to have a Federal 
agency, the Park Service, the Forest Service--you pick it--just once to 
have a Federal agency get aggressive on something that really matters 
to us in rural America.
  I said to the Park Service: You probably regret asking for my advice. 
You probably certainly regret I had time on an airplane to read your 
letter and had a laptop available to respond to it. But, frankly, my 
advice is do not spend the taxpayers' money, do not spend a quarter of 
a million dollars; get those prairie dogs out of the picnic area and 
get your people, if you have the time work on things that really 
matter, to work on things with us that matter to rural America in a 
real way.
  I know the Park Service has read my letter because they sent me 
another letter and said this is not just about prairie dogs and picnic 
areas, it is now about the bubonic plague or some god- awful thing, and 
they have developed several areas of new dimensions to this tiny little 
issue, as is always the case. I am sure they brought in four or five 
specialists now to respond to this issue that I have raised with them 
about worrying about all the wrong things.
  Some days you just scratch your head and wonder whether bureaucracy 
has any common sense left.
  I say to the Park Service, and all the others who are engaged in 
these Federal agencies: Give us some help from time to time on things 
that really matter to people living in rural America.
  I live in a wonderful State. It provides a wonderful environment for 
people who want to live in an area where they have good neighbors, no 
overcrowding, and very little crime. It is a wonderful place with 
wonderful values. The fact is, we are fighting a losing battle in many 
ways trying to keep people, jobs, promote economic opportunity and a 
future that has some assistance for people who want to live in rural 
areas.
  I say to Federal agencies: If you want to worry about something, do 
not worry about a few prairie dogs in a picnic area. Help us worry 
about promoting some economic help in rural America for a change.
  If you don't want to do that, cut some of the positions out of some 
of the agencies to say you have too many people working on some of the 
issues. Maybe we can cut down on the idle time.
  It was therapeutic for me to say this on the floor. It probably was a 
slow water drip for the Presiding Officer. I ask unanimous consent to 
have printed in the Record the letter I sent to the Park Service on the 
subject of prairie dogs and picnic areas and scoping and environmental 
impacts, and I say to them, save your breath and save the taxpayers' 
money and work on things for a change that do matter.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                         Move the Prairie Dogs

             (By U.S. Senator Byron Dorgan, D-North Dakota)

       The National Park Service wants to spend nearly a quarter 
     of a million of dollars to move a picnic area in Theodore 
     Roosevelt National Park to accommodate a colony of prairie 
     dogs that moved into the area. A quarter of a million 
     dollars? To move a picnic area? To accommodate prairie dogs?
       They must be kidding, right? No. They're serious.
       Following is the text of a letter I'm sending to the acting 
     Director of the National Park Service in Washington, D.C.:

       Dear Mr. Galvin: This is in response to the Park Service 
     letter asking for my thoughts about how to deal with some 
     prairie dogs that have ``colonized'' your picnic area in the 
     south unit of the Badlands in North Dakota.
       Your letter stated that you are ``scoping'' the issues and 
     about to prepare an ``Environmental Assessment'' (EA) to 
     determine whether you should spend $223,000 to reconstruct 
     the picnic area in a different location.
       We're in the middle of a rather complicated fight about the 
     federal budget here in Congress, but still, I'm pleased to 
     offer a few thoughts about prairie dogs and picnic areas.
       Now I want you to know that I'm not unsympathetic to 
     prairie dogs. They are cute little creatures. Unlike a rat, 
     the prairie dog was blessed with a furry tail and button nose 
     and seems to have a better public image. But, I just wonder 
     if it had been rats that had colonized the picnic grounds if 
     you would be talking about spending a small fortune to fix 
     the problem? Maybe I shouldn't ask. . . .
       My advice is this: don't waste the taxpayers' money. You 
     don't have to move the picnic grounds. Move the prairie dogs!
       When I was growing up in Regent, some rats ``colonized'' 
     (to use your term) our horse barn. My dad told me that since 
     it was our barn, and the rats could live a good life just a 
     mile south in the town dump, I should get rid of them. I 
     recruited a few school friends to help. We didn't do any 
     ``scoping'' or ``Environmental Assessment.'' The rats were in 
     a foul mood, but they were no match for three fourteen year 
     old boys. We reclaimed the Dorgan barn in no time.
       Now getting back to the prairie dogs that are 
     ``colonizing'' your picnic area, I figure that there are 
     about 1,428,288 acres of ground in the Badlands that those 
     little dogs can colonize. But they have no right to do it in 
     your picnic area.
       So here's what you should do. And it's nearly cost free. 
     Find a way to communicate with those prairie dogs. If you 
     don't know how, check with some of the neighbors living in 
     western North Dakota. When you live on a farm or ranch, you 
     learn quickly how to communicate with animals.
       Once your Park Service employees get the hang of 
     communicating with prairie dogs, have them let those dogs 
     know you're reclaiming your picnic area, with force if 
     necessary. And if those prairie dogs won' leave, you go out 
     and hire three or four teenagers from the area and tell them 
     to get the job done. I guarantee you those kids will have 
     this problem solved in just a couple of days. And it don't 
     cost you $223,000.
       Don't misunderstand me. I am a supporter of our 
     environment, of wildlife and, yes, of the Endangered Species 
     Act. And so are most North Dakotans. But prairie dogs are not 
     endangered in western North Dakota. To those who insist they 
     are, I challenge them to put a male prairie dog and a female 
     prairie dog in their own backyard and report back to us in a 
     couple of years.
       The fact is, we're not short of prairie dogs.
       We're running short of people!
       The real endangered species, especially in the western part 
     of our state, is the human species.
       Farmers and ranchers are leaving the land at an alarming 
     rate. Small towns are shrinking like prunes. Many rural 
     counties are fast becoming wilderness areas.
       When I received your letter about prairie dogs, picnic 
     areas and environmental impact statements, it seemed such an 
     unusual response to such a small issue.
       Having prairie dogs move into a picnic area doesn't rank up 
     there with the problem of people moving out of our state.
       You'll have to excuse me for being impatient with federal 
     agencies that treat the light too seriously and the serious 
     too lightly.
       Just once I would like to hear of a federal agency 
     interested in doing an impact statement on what our country 
     will lose when there are no family farms or ranches left in 
     rural America. How about ``scoping'' that issue? Or how about 
     an impact statement on the damage done to our farmers and 
     ranchers from the mergers and monopolies that are being 
     formed in the industries that farmers rely on such as the 
     railroads, grain trade, packing plants and more.
       By now you probably regret asking for my advice. Simply 
     put, my advice is don't you dare spend nearly a quarter of a 
     million dollars to move that picnic ground. Move the prairie 
     dogs.
       And then spend some time with me and others in Congress to 
     help create a friendly environment for people to make a 
     decent living on our farms and ranches in rural America.
           Sincerely,
                                                  Byron L. Dorgan,
                                                     U.S. Senator.

  Mr. DORGAN. I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Inhofe). The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mrs. HUTCHISON. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Chafee) ordered.

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