[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 4 (Thursday, January 7, 2016)]
[House]
[Page H106]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    MALHEUR NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Oregon (Mr. Blumenauer) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BLUMENAUER. Mr. Speaker, with the odd drama playing out in Oregon 
where armed thugs have taken over a Federal wildlife facility, it is 
important to reflect on what the wildlife refuge system is all about.
  If these people had any argument with the President, it was with 
President Roosevelt, who 108 years ago established the Malheur National 
Wildlife Refuge as a response to protect natural resources, especially 
the slaughter of wild birds for feathers to adorn women's hats.
  It is ironic that the President, who in his younger days participated 
in the slaughter of over 6 million buffalo that roamed the Midwest 
plains on a magnificent ecostructure, realized the necessity of 
protecting these resources. Today we benefit from the foresight of this 
conservation President who provided the cornerstone of environmental 
protection that enriches us all.
  The notion that somehow this is the ``wild west,'' where people can 
do with public land what they want, is thoroughly discredited. This 
mind-set from the 1800s that there were endless, wide-open spaces, 
where people could do what they wished, when they wished, where they 
wished, is tinged with regret and tragedy. We took away the land from 
Native Americans that our government had given to them in solemn 
treaty, ratified by Congress.
  The mind-set that public lands of the West were to be exploited as 
rapidly as possible is still embodied in the Mining Act of 1872, which 
essentially allows anyone, including foreign mining operations, to 
exploit our country's mineral resources at basically no cost and with 
no enforceable obligation to repair the damage they inflicted. The West 
is now blighted with thousands of abandoned mines and oil and gas wells 
that will risk being a permanent scar on the landscape. While private 
profit was pursued, the public was left with the consequences and the 
cost of cleanup, if it ever occurs.
  The longstanding battles over American rangeland between competing 
owners and between competing uses, like cattle and sheep, were not 
pretty. There is no doubt that there are still significant problems 
dealing with public land management, in part because the rules of the 
game are still set by the Mining Act of 1872 and the Taylor Grazing Act 
of 1934.
  All but the most reckless individuals would agree that if these 
statutes were written today they would look fundamentally different 
with more protections and clarity. It was into this void that Teddy 
Roosevelt stepped, declaring critical national monuments. He 
established wildlife refuges to benefit countless generations to come.
  These amazing treasures are not just scenic wonders. They hold 
extraordinarily valuable habitat for wildlife, waterfowl, helping 
preserve the land and the water and the ecosystem that goes far beyond 
what is simply spectacular to look at.
  This is America's heritage. We struggle on an ongoing basis to 
recover from the reckless, thoughtless exploitation of the last two 
centuries. The vast majority of the American public supports this 
effort, even if they never visit the remote Western regions. Indeed, 
the fact that they are often inaccessible is the only way that they are 
preserved. Imagine tour buses, motorized vehicles, hordes of tourists, 
their infrastructure and their litter, and the destructive effects that 
would have.
  The sideshow with the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge obscures a 
much larger and important public policy: protecting our heritage, 
enhancing it, and avoiding reckless behavior of a few that will 
penalize generations to come.
  That is why the Harney Basin Wetlands Initiative of people in that 
region, facilitated by the refuge between 2010 and 2013, was a textbook 
example of collaboration, where all the stakeholders created a vision 
and a 20-year plan for the refuge and the surrounding landscape, 
including the biggest wetland restoration project ever undertaken.
  It would be valuable for us to look behind the headlines to the facts 
on the ground, the history of the resource, the struggle for 
protection, the tremendous benefits for all Americans, and what the 
stakeholders in that region accomplished together.

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