[Senate Report 111-324]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
Calendar No. 610
111th Congress Report
SENATE
2d Session 111-324
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FISH STOCKING IN LAKES IN THE NORTH CASCADES NATIONAL PARK, ROSS LAKE
NATIONAL RECREATION AREA, AND LAKE CHELAN NATIONAL RECREATION AREA
_______
September 27, 2010.--Ordered to be printed
_______
Mr. Bingaman, from the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources,
submitted the following
R E P O R T
[To accompany H.R. 2430]
The Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, to which was
referred the Act (H.R. 2430) to continue stocking fish in
certain lakes in the North Cascades National Park, Ross Lake
National Recreation Area, and Lake Chelan National Recreation
Area, having considered the same, reports favorably thereon
with an amendment and recommends that the Act, as amended, do
pass.
The amendment is as follows:
Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert in lieu
thereof the following:
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``North Cascades National Park Service
Complex Fish Stocking Act''.
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) North cascades national park service complex.--The term
``North Cascades National Park Service Complex'' means
collectively the North Cascades National Park, Ross Lake
National Recreation Area, and Lake Chelan National Recreation
Area.
(2) Plan.--The term ``plan'' means the document entitled
``North Cascades National Park Service Complex Mountain Lakes
Fishery Management Plan and Environmental Impact Statement''
and dated June 2008.
(3) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary of
the Interior.
SEC. 3. STOCKING OF CERTAIN LAKES IN THE NORTH CASCADES NATIONAL PARK
SERVICE COMPLEX.
(a) In General.--Subject to subsection (b), the Secretary shall
authorize the stocking of fish in lakes in the North Cascades National
Park Service Complex.
(b) Conditions.--
(1) In general.--The Secretary is authorized to allow stocking of
fish in not more than 42 of the 91 lakes in the North Cascades National
Park Service Complex that have historically been stocked with fish.
(2) Native nonreproducing fish.--The Secretary shall only
stock fish that are--
(A) native to the slope of the Cascade Range on which
the lake to be stocked is located; and
(B) nonreproducing, as identified in management
alternative B of the plan.
(3) Considerations.--In making fish stocking decisions under
this Act, the Secretary shall consider relevant scientific
information, including the plan and information gathered under
subsection (c).
(4) Required coordination.--The Secretary shall coordinate
the stocking of fish under this Act with the State of
Washington.
(c) Research and Monitoring.--The Secretary shall--
(1) continue a program of research and monitoring of the
impacts of fish stocking on the resources of the applicable
unit of the North Cascades National Park Service Complex; and
(2) beginning on the date that is 5 years after the date of
enactment of this Act and every 5 years thereafter, submit to
the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of the Senate and
the Committee on Natural Resources of the House of
Representatives a report that describes the results of the
research and monitoring under paragraph (1).
PURPOSE
The purpose of H.R. 2430 is to direct the Secretary of the
Interior to authorize the stocking of fish in certain lakes in
North Cascades National Park, Ross Lake National Recreation
Area, and the Lake Chelan National Recreation Area.
BACKGROUND AND NEED
The North Cascades National Park Service Complex (which
includes Ross Lake National Recreation Area and the Lake Chelan
Recreational Area) contains over 245 mountain lakes, of which
91 have been historically stocked with fish. In some cases, the
stocking of fish in these lakes dates back to the 1800's.
Fishing has been important to the area because of the
recreational opportunities it creates. North Cascades National
Park Complex estimates that 1,000 people fish in the mountain
lakes each year. To allow for this, fish stocking is necessary
because the mountain lakes are naturally fish free due to the
steep creeks, waterfalls, and rugged nature of the valleys.
There has been an ongoing concern over the issue of fish
stocking in the North Cascades National Park Complex. The issue
was discussed during congressional hearings on the designation
of the park. At that time, verbal comments from the Secretary
of the Interior and the Director of the National Park Service
(Director) indicated that fishing and fish stocking would
continue if the area became a unit of the National Park System.
These statements, though captured in the North Cascades Study
Report, were never codified in the enabling legislation.
Since the park was designated in 1968, fish stocking
continued under various agreements between the National Park
Service (NPS) and the State of Washington. Continued stocking
was authorized under a policy variance issued by the Director.
The variance provided some guidance, but did not address long-
term considerations and options which are necessary to best
understand and manage the resource.
In 1986, the Director, through the variance, directed North
Cascades National Park Complex to study and monitor the issue
for its long term planning purposes. In June 2008, the NPS
released its Mountain Lakes Fishery Management Plan and
Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). The plan and EIS analyzed
a range of management actions and alternatives for the mountain
lakes.
The plan identified four alternatives. Alternative B, the
plan's preferred alternative, recommends the continued stocking
of up to 42 of the lakes that have historically been stocked
with fish. It also planned for the elimination of some fish
populations from certain lakes while allowing reproducing
populations to remain in others. Only non-reproducing fish can
be stocked under Alternative B in order to minimize the risk of
unwanted fish reproduction. Lastly, lakes that currently do not
have fish would remain fishless under the preferred
alternative.
Legislation is needed to exercise the preferred alternative
because the Park Service lacks the authority to implement all
of required management actions. All of the lakes considered in
the plan are in a designated wilderness area, and NPS
Management Policies prohibit fish stocking in waters that were
naturally fishless in such areas. Without legislation, the NPS
will implement Alternative D of the plan. Alternative D ceases
fish stocking and removes reproducing fish from the mountain
lakes, wherever it is feasible to do so, to reestablish fish-
free lakes again.
The fish stocking program would be managed by the NPS and
the State of Washington. Under the program, fish stocking would
occur every 3 to 10 years and be tailored to specific lake
conditions. Stocking would be done primarily by volunteers who
backpack young fish in plastic containers to the lakes. Lakes
that are too remote for backpack stocking, will be stocked
using fixed wing aircraft chartered by the Washington
Department of Fish and Wildlife.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY
H.R. 2430, sponsored by Representative Hastings of
Washington and others, passed the House of Representatives, on
June 2, 2009, by a voice vote. The Subcommittee on National
Parks held a hearing on the bill on July 22, 2009. S. Hrg. 111-
129.
At its business meeting on August 5, 2010, the Committee on
Energy and Natural Resources ordered the bill favorably
reported with an amendment in the nature of a substitute.
COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION
The Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, in its open
business session on August 5, 2010, by a voice vote of a quorum
present, recommends that the Senate pass H.R. 2430, if amended
as described herein.
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
During its consideration of H.R. 2430, the Committee
adopted an amendment in the nature of a substitute. The
amendment strikes the findings section, adds a definitions
section, and adds conditions defining where and what types of
fish may be stocked. The amendment is described in detail in
the section-by-section analysis below.
SECTION-BY-SECTION ANALYSIS
Section 1 contains the short title, the ``North Cascades
National Park Service Complex Fish Stocking Act''.
Section 2 defines key terms used in the bill.
Section 3(a) directs the Secretary of the Interior
(Secretary) to allow continued fish stocking in the North
Cascades National Park Service Complex.
Subsection (b) defines the conditions under which the
stocking may occur in up to 42 lakes within the North Cascades
National Park Service Complex that have historically been
stocked. The Secretary may only stock non-reproducing native
fish, identified as native to the slope of the Cascade Range on
which the lake to be stocked is located, and in accordance with
management alternative B defined in the referenced fishery
management plan and environmental impact statement. Stocking
decisions are required to be based on scientific findings
developed through research and monitoring and in coordination
with the State of Washington.
Subsection (c) directs the Secretary to continue research
and monitoring of the impacts of fish stocking and requires the
Secretary to submit a report of findings based on these
activities five years after enactment of the Act and every five
years thereafter to the Senate Energy and Natural Resources
Committee and Committee on Natural Resources of the House of
Representatives.
COST AND BUDGETARY CONSIDERATIONS
The following estimate of costs of this measure has been
provided by the Congressional Budget Office:
H.R. 2430--North Cascades National Park Service Complex Fish Stocking
Act
H.R. 2430 would authorize the National Park Service (NPS)
to stock fish in lakes in three units of the National Park
System in the state of Washington. Based on information
provided by the NPS, CBO estimates that implementing H.R. 2430
would have no significant effect on discretionary spending.
Under the bill, the expense of stocking fish would be borne by
the state or other nonfederal entities, as it has been since
the three park units were established. Enacting the legislation
would not affect revenues or direct spending; therefore, pay-
as-you-go procedures do not apply.
H.R. 2430 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector
mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and
would impose no costs on state, local, or tribal governments.
The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Deborah Reis.
The estimate was approved by Peter H. Fontaine, Assistant
Director for the Budget Analysis Division.
REGULATORY IMPACT EVALUATION
In compliance with paragraph 11(b) of rule XXVI of the
Standing Rules of the Senate, the Committee makes the following
evaluation of the regulatory impact which would be incurred in
carrying out H.R. 2430.
The Act is not a regulatory measure in the sense of
imposing Government-established standards or significant
economic responsibilities on private individuals and
businesses.
No personal information would be collected in administering
the program. Therefore, there would be no impact on personal
privacy.
Little, if any, additional paperwork would result from the
enactment of H.R. 2430, as ordered reported.
CONGRESSIONALLY DIRECTED SPENDING
H.R. 2430, as ordered reported, does not contain any
congressionally directed spending items, limited tax benefits,
or limited tariff benefits as defined in rule XLIV of the
Standing Rules of the Senate.
EXECUTIVE COMMUNICATIONS
The views of the Department of the Interior were included
in testimony received by the Committee at a hearing on H.R.
2430 on July 22, 2009, which is printed below:
Statement of Daniel N. Wenk, Acting Director, National Park Service,
Department of the Interior
Mr. Chairman, thank you for the opportunity to provide the
Department of the Interior's views on H.R. 2430, a bill to
direct the Secretary of the Interior to continue stocking fish
in certain lakes in North Cascades National Park, Ross Lake
National Recreation Area, and Lake Chelan National Recreation
Area (hereafter referred to as ``North Cascades Complex'').
The Department does not oppose H.R. 2430; however we would
like to work with the committee on amendments to the bill.
The National Park Service collectively manages North
Cascades National Park, Ross Lake National Recreation Area, and
Lake Chelan National Recreation Area as North Cascades National
Park Service Complex. All of the 245 mountain lakes in the
North Cascades Complex area were naturally fishless. Fish
stocking in this area began in the late 1800's. During this
period, approximately 91 lakes were stocked at one time or
another and 154 lakes were never stocked. This fish stocking
provided the opportunity to fish in these mountain lakes. The
issue of continued fish stocking arose in 1968 when the
proposal to create the park was introduced. Although the
enabling legislation does reference the requirement for a
Washington state fishing license, it is silent regarding fish
stocking. Stocking continued after the park was established.
However, concerns over the ecological impacts of fish stocking
in naturally fish-free waters continued. Then soon after the
park complex was created, the National Park Service policy
regarding fish stocking was revised to provide that fish
stocking in naturally fish-free waters should not occur. Fish
stocking was phased out in many national parks across the
country to restore natural conditions and to preserve native
species. In 1988, Congress designated ninety three percent of
the North Cascades as the Stephen Mather Wilderness and 90 of
the 91 lakes that had historically been stocked are within the
Wilderness area. At the time the Wilderness was designated,
Congress did not address the issue of stocking the lakes.
The 2006 Management Policies of the National Park Service
(NPS) allow for the management of fish populations when
necessary to restore resources to their natural state or
reestablish a native species that has been extirpated. Stocking
of other plants or animals is also allowed under certain
circumstances. Specifically, the policies provide that ``In
some special situations, the Secretary may stock native or
exotic animals for recreational harvesting purposes, but only
when such stocking will not unacceptably impact park natural
resources or processes and when:
the stocking is of fish into constructed
large reservoirs or other significantly altered large
water bodies and the purpose is to provide for
recreational fishing; or
the intent for stocking is a treaty right or
expressed in statute, applicable law, or a House or
Senate report accompanying a statute.
The Service will not stock waters that are naturally barren
of harvested aquatic species.''
The NPS appreciates the collaborative partnership with the
Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) at North
Cascades Complex and throughout the State of Washington.
Despite this strong working relationship, a number of
challenges have historically arisen when trying to reconcile
the missions and policies of the WDFW and NPS on this stocking
program. However, multiple attempts have been made to negotiate
a mutually acceptable outcome on this issue. For example, in
1987, the Assistant Secretary of the Interior, Fish and
Wildlife and Parks, negotiated an agreement allowing fish
stocking to continue in certain lakes while simultaneously
conducting research into the ecological impacts of stocking. In
1991, the National Park Service entered into a Consent Decree
to resolve litigation challenging the fish stocking program
wherein NPS agreed to conduct research into the ecological
impacts of fish stocking at North Cascades and then to conduct
a NEPA review of the fish stocking of naturally fish-free
lakes.
A decade of research, conducted in the North Cascades
Complex through Oregon State University and the USGS Biological
Resources Division, documented in the North Cascades lakes
where fish had been stocked in low numbers and could not
reproduce, no statistically significant ecological effects to
native aquatic species were detected. However, in self-
sustaining populations, non-native trout can have significant
effects on native aquatic organisms such as amphibians and
zooplankton.
In 2002, the NPS in collaboration with WDFW began
development of a comprehensive Mountain Lakes Fishery
Management Plan/Environmental Impact Statement (Plan/EIS). The
purpose of the planning effort was to apply the results of the
research and resolve the longstanding conflict over fish
stocking in the mountain lakes.
On November 26, 2008, the NPS issued a Record of Decision
for the final Plan/EIS and selected the preferred alternative
that would stop stocking and remove fish from lakes where
significant impacts were occurring (49 lakes) but allow
stocking of non-reproducing fish at low densities to continue
in up to 42 lakes, subject to additional monitoring. In this
manner, the EIS found that the stocking would not unacceptably
impact park natural resources or processes in some lakes.
However, the Record of Decision (ROD) also notes that fish
stocking in the Stephen T. Mather Wilderness does not meet the
minimum requirements analysis conducted under section 4(c) of
the Wilderness Act. In addition, the ROD recognizes that to be
consistent with NPS policy, the NPS would need the legal
authority to implement the preferred alternative. The ROD
further provides and that if the legal authority was not
provided to the NPS by July 1, 2009, the NPS, consistent with
NPS policy, would discontinue the stocking program in its
entirety and work to restore the natural ecology of all the
mountain lakes. In the majority of lakes this would be
accomplished through the combination of not stocking and
continued fishing. Over time, natural mortality would remove
the remainder. In lakes where naturally reproducing populations
were found, the NPS would work to remove these fish.
Realistically at least ten lakes are so large that no known
removal techniques will work and fish populations will remain
for the foreseeable future.
The NPS is interested in ensuring that any legislation
regarding fish stocking is guided by science and an
understanding of the impact that such policy decisions would
have on park resources. We recommend, for example, that any
stocked fish be both native to the local watershed and be
functionally sterile. And we request that the Secretary
continue a program of monitoring the impacts of fish stocking
in order to determine if further adjustments are needed to
protect aquatic resources. We would welcome an opportunity to
work with the Committee and the sponsors of this legislation on
the language of these proposed amendments.
Mr. Chairman, this concludes my prepared remarks. I would
be pleased to answer any questions you or other members of the
Subcommittee may have.
CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW
In compliance with paragraph 12 of rule XXVI of the
Standing Rules of the Senate, the Committee notes that no
changes in existing law are made by the Act H.R. 2430, as
ordered reported.