    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1997, Book II)]
    [November 15, 1997]
    [Pages 1578-1580]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks at the Yolo Basin Wetlands in Davis, California
    November 15, 1997

        Thank you very much. You can't imagine how much I wanted to get out
    of cold, rainy, windy Washington, DC, to come to California. [Laughter]
    But after all, this is a wetlands event.
        I want to, first of all, thank Sarah for her introduction. Didn't
    she speak well? [Applause] She was terrific, I thought. And listening to
    her recount the experiences of the last several years of her life I
    think was as good a statement as any as could be made about so many of
    you who are here and the work you have done to make this day come to
    pass. I want to thank all of you very much.
        I'd like to say a special word of appreciation to your secretary of
    natural resources, Doug Wheeler, and two people who came from Washington
    with me, our Deputy Secretary of Agriculture, Rich Rominger, who is from
    Yolo County; and he's already been mentioned, but our Deputy Secretary
    of the Interior, John Garamendi, who grew up not far from here, and
    they've both done a terrific job for you back there.
        I thank John Walker for his statement. We were dedicating a wetland
    in Arkansas once a few years ago, on a much warmer day, and I was a
    Governor, and he was a president. But after all, I'm term-limited, and
    he can go on forever. [Laughter]
        I'm very glad to be here with all of you. I want to thank Robin and
    Greg for showing me around the area and giving me a chance to look at
    some of the birds and just see what you've done here. I asked him how
    many ducks and geese there were going to be here and whether you had any
    eagles or ospreys or egrets, and I got a pretty good rundown on it.
        And I have to say that I have been, as you have heard already, a big
    supporter of these kinds of endeavors. I thank the people here from the
    California Waterfowl Association, and I do want to say a special word of
    thanks to two groups with which I have been associated,

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    first, the folks from the Corps of Engineers. They have not only changed
    their image, they've changed their reality. They're working hard not
    only to give us water projects but to give us the kind of environmental
    conservation that we need for the long run. And I thank you very much,
    Colonel, and I thank all the people from the Corps for what you've done.
        And let me just echo what was said earlier. I'm very proud of my
    very long association with Ducks Unlimited. They've done a wonderful job
    in helping us to bring waterfowl back to our State, and they do a great
    job in this country.
        Finally, I'd like to say a word of appreciation to Vic Fazio, who is
    clearly one of the most outstanding Members of the United States
    Congress in either party. If we had 100 more people like him, America
    would have no problem. He is a very good man. I want to thank Vic not
    only for his work here but for the general efforts he's made, along with
    Senator Boxer and Senator Feinstein and John Garamendi, for our efforts
    in the Bay Delta area and the work that we are doing to try to guarantee
    the long-term needs of California for water supply, as well as water
    quality, habitat preservation, and environmental progress. And that's
    very, very good.
        Let me say, I wanted to be here today because to me this project is
    the embodiment of not only what we should be doing as Americans on the
    edge of a new century but how we should be doing it. We worked very hard
    to create a country where things were working for ordinary Americans,
    where we were coming together across the lines that divide us, and where
    we can be strong enough to continue to lead the world in the right
    direction. And that bridge that I talked about all the time I'm trying
    to build to the 21st century is going pretty well. We've got the
    strongest economy in a generation; crime and welfare are dropping; and
    our water quality, our air quality, our food safety, they're all
    improving. We are moving in the right direction.
        One of the biggest challenges we will have to continue to face
    during the entire lifetime of all the children that are here is the
    challenge of trying to grow our economy and lift our standard of living
    while improving, not diminishing, our environment. That is critical. A
    great deal of the history of 20th century California is a story of this
    battle. And the truth is, for most of the 20th century, not only in
    California but throughout America, whenever people thought about this,
    they either thought, ``I'm going to develop the economy; the environment
    will take care of itself,'' or they felt for a long time, ``It's
    unfortunate that we have to give up so much of our environment, but it's
    a necessary price we have to pay to continue to raise our living
    standards.'' Now we know that is a false choice. And indeed, we
    understand that over the long run, if we want to preserve our ability to
    increase our standard of living, we have to preserve our national
    environment and all the things that go with it.
        Just for example, Greg Schmid and I were talking about this project
    and how the more you do these projects, the more you're going not only
    to have what you came here for today but what you cannot see; you will
    lose less water in rain runoff, and you will over time rebuild the
    aquifers that are below the land, that no one sees and most people don't
    think about. But that will enable you to sustain your population and to
    sustain your economic activity.
        So again I say, I wanted to come here today because this is a huge
    success. You're doing the right thing, and you're doing it in the right
    way. And that's the second point I want to make. If we haven't learned
    anything in our country in the last few years, I hope we have learned we
    do not get very far when we just stand off and shout at each other and
    fight and argue all the time. But we can do anything if we roll up our
    sleeves and get down to work and honestly listen to people who have
    different experiences, different perspectives, and different genuine
    interests. That's what you've done here. You've been able to bring
    everybody together, and I really feel good about that.
        Here we are in the shadow of Sacramento. We see the farmlands here,
    and I promise you, when I crossed that levee today, I thought I was back
    home in eastern Arkansas, and I kept waiting for somebody to give me my
    waders and a gun to go duck hunting. [Laughter]
        What you have done today was based on the cooperation of State,
    Federal, and local governments, based on public--[inaudible]. That's how
    we ought to be dealing with all America's problems. You can't name a
    single problem we've got in this country that we could not make the kind
    of progress on we're celebrating today if we didn't approach it the way
    you have approached this.
        And I would implore you to think about what you can do and what you
    can say to people

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    in this State, and your friends and family members and neighbors all
    around America, to take this attitude and this approach, not only to our
    environmental problems but to all others.
        You've been working on this since the late eighties. You ought to be
    very proud of it. But you ought to also draw confidence from this that
    there is no challenge facing this country that we cannot meet if we will
    just do what you have done here. I am so proud of you--I know that you
    believe in it or you wouldn't be standing out here in the cold and rain
    listening to me talk.
        I've just got to make one other point that I think is very important
    to you here in California. Three years ago we helped to launch the
    historic Cal-Fed partnership to try to end the water wars and restore
    the environment and ensure clean and reliable water for generations to
    come. I just signed legislation, as Vic Fazio said, that makes $85
    million in downpayments to match funds that the California voters
    approved to restore their rivers and marshes in the valleys. In 2 months
    the Cal-Fed program will recommend a blueprint for moving forward with
    all of our partners in the way I said. We'll be working on habitat
    restoration, flood protection, integrated from the beginning into all
    projects designed to meet the other needs of the area. We're going to do
    it right. And again I say I'm very grateful to Vic Fazio and to Senator
    Boxer, Senator Feinstein, and of course, to John Garamendi for their
    work in this whole process.
        And let me also say that--I want to say a word of thanks to the
    Corps of Engineers and others who have done all the work in rebuilding
    after last year's floods. Within the next few weeks, the Corps will
    finish all remaining repairs. It's the most extensive flood reparation
    ever done in this short of time and another reason we should thank the
    Corps of Engineers for what they've done here.
        We're working hard across America on projects like this. We're
    making progress in reclaiming the Florida Everglades, in restoring Lake
    Tahoe, in saving Yellowstone. We have funds in this latest bill, in our
    balanced budget plan, to continue this work. But I now can go around the
    country and talk to other people about what you've done here and tell
    them you believe in it so much you all showed up and stayed in the wind
    and the rain in sunny California. [Laughter]
        Well, I've seen the wetlands here today, and some of you may have
    seen more than you wanted to see. But I'll tell you what else I've seen:
    I've seen a glimpse of America's future, and I like it.
        Thank you, and God bless you.

    Note: The President spoke at 11:45 a.m. at the Yolo Bypass Wildlife
    Area. In his remarks, he referred to Douglas P. Wheeler, California
    secretary for resources; John Walker, chairman of the board, Ducks
    Unlimited; Sarah Jullian, volunteer, Robin Kulakow, executive director,
    and Greg Schmid, farmer, Yolo Basin Foundation; and Col. Dorothy F.
    Klasse, USA, District Engineer, Sacramento District, U.S. Army Corps of
    Engineers.