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Opening Statement By Chairwoman Madeleine Z. Bordallo |
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Opening Remarks of Del. Madeleine Z.
Bordallo
Chairwoman, Subcommittee on Fisheries, Wildlife and Oceans
Oversight Hearing on H.R. 767: The Refuge Ecology Protection, Assistance and
Immediate Response Act
June 21, 2007
This morning's hearing on H.R. 767, the Refuge Ecology Protection,
Assistance and Immediate Response Act, or REPAIR ACT, will shed light on a
growing problem which threatens the ecological integrity of the entire National
Wildlife Refuge System, and discuss a potential solution to address this
problem.
As the delegate from the island territory
of Guam, no one need
remind me of the environmental havoc that can be wrought by the arrival of even
just one invasive species. The unintentional release on Guam
of brown tree snakes after World War II unleashed an animal which has since
decimated native bird populations.
Regrettably, several birds endemic to Guam,
such as the Guam Rail, are now listed as threatened or endangered. Even
worse, several other native birds, including the Mariana Fruit Dove and the
Guam Flycatcher, have since become extinct and disappeared from the
island ecology of Guam. These irreplaceable losses have cut deeply across our
proud Chamorro customs and traditions as environmental stewards.
With this experience in mind, I shudder to think of the potential environmental
calamity that might befall our National Wildlife Refuge System - our only
system of Federal lands dedicated exclusively for the protection and
conservation of fish and wildlife - if we remain complacent to this pernicious
threat which is spiraling out of control.
The $8.9 million requested by President Bush in his Fiscal Year 2008 budget to
support invasive species activities on refuges is a paltry amount when compared
to annual invasive species costs to the Refuge System estimated by the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service as approaching $300 million.
Clearly, we must do more. I commend our colleague from Wisconsin and co-chair of the House National
Wildlife Refuge Caucus, Congressman Ron Kind, for introducing his thoughtful,
common sense legislation, and for his efforts to bring greater attention to
this important issue. I also commend his fellow Refuge Caucus
co-chair, Congressman Jim Saxton, for being an original co-sponsor of the bill.
The matching grant strategy that would be authorized through H.R. 767 would
provide an effective tool for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to develop
partnerships among federal and non-federal stakeholders to eradicate, control
or mitigate invasive species on both refuge lands and adjoining non-federal
lands.
Encouragement of such a "landscape" approach is long overdue to effectively
address this threat.
Other important features in H.R. 767 include new grants to states to assess
invasive species priorities, and new authority for the Secretary of the
Interior to provide immediate assistance whenever new infestations occur.
Both provisions should help focus activities to where they might have the
greatest positive impact.
In closing, none of us should think that invasive species are a problem that
will solve itself. If anything, this problem is likely to become even
more acute under virtually any climate change scenario.
But if we want to have a vibrant, healthy and biologically diverse Refuge
System in the future, action is needed today to address invasive species, or we
risk losing much of the fish and wildlife habitat we have protected for the
last 100 years.
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