[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 3]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 3733]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




 INTRODUCTION OF THE NORTHERN ROCKIES ECOSYSTEM PROTECTION ACT (NREPA) 
                                OF 2009

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                        HON. CAROLYN B. MALONEY

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, February 11, 2009

  Mrs. MALONEY. Madam Speaker, today, along with my friend Mr. 
Grijalva, I am pleased to reintroduce the Northern Rockies Ecosystem 
Protection Act, NREPA, in the 111th Congress.
  NREPA differs from traditional state-by-state wilderness bills by 
offering a variety of designations that work in concert to achieve one 
goal: the protection of entire functioning ecosystems on federal public 
lands. These are lands that belong to all American taxpayers, and we 
have a right and responsibility to protect our precious resources.
  First, NREPA protects over 24 million acres of America's premiere 
roadless lands as wilderness. It also protect the rivers and streams 
that are the last habitats for many of America's wild trout stocks, by 
protecting 1800 miles of river and streams as wild and scenic rivers.
  Importantly, NREPA emphasizes that all of these wild places are 
linked together in the most vital ways possible. By protecting natural 
biological corridors, NREPA connects the region's core wildlands into a 
functioning ecological whole. NREPA also creates jobs by putting people 
to work restoring the land in wildland restoration and recovery areas 
designated in the bill.
  Finally, I want to be very clear about what NREPA doesn't do. NREPA 
does not impact private landowners. It impacts only federal public 
lands--lands owned by all Americans.
  Some years ago, two NREPA supporters from Manhattan, Montana wrote to 
me and said ``We feel that there is a little ray of hope for the 
incredible but dwindling wildlands we are so lucky to live near and 
love.'' All of us have a responsibility to sustain that hope.

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