HOUSE BILL REPORT

                 HJM 4014

             As Reported By House Committee On:

                  Natural Resources & Parks

Brief Description:  Asking the President and Congress to implement comprehensive natural resource management programs.

Sponsors:  Representatives R. Johnson, Pruitt, Linville, Kremen, Valle, Johanson and Anderson.

Brief History:

  Reported by House Committee on:

Natural Resources & Parks, March 2, 1993, DP.

HOUSE COMMITTEE ON NATURAL RESOURCES & PARKS

Majority Report:  Do pass.  Signed by 10 members:  Representatives Pruitt, Chair; R. Johnson, Vice Chair; Morton, Ranking Minority Member; Stevens, Assistant Ranking Minority Member; Dunshee; Schoesler; Sheldon; Thomas; Valle; and Wolfe.

Staff:  Linda Byers (786-7129).

Background:  In 1973, Congress enacted the Endangered Species Act.  The act provides a process for listing individual animal or plant species as threatened or endangered, and then for developing a recovery plan for the threatened or endangered species.  Congress and the president will be faced shortly with the question of reauthorization of funding for the Endangered Species Act.

Summary of Bill:  The memorial acknowledges a number of benefits associated with wise stewardship of natural resources and the environment.  The memorial also acknowledges that implementation of the Endangered Species Act as written has disrupted local communities and economies, and caused other hardships.  Finally, the memorial states that wildlife and environmental management experts have recognized that it is more successful and less costly to manage for biological communities and multiple species before they become threatened rather than focusing on emergency cases one at a time.

The memorial asks the president and the Congress to enact and implement comprehensive natural resource management programs, and to adequately fund and implement existing programs designed to prevent plants and animals from requiring protection under the Endangered Species Act.  The memorial encourages the management and recovery of entire ecosystems and ecological communities.  New requirements are recommended for federal agencies responsible for species recovery.  The memorial also suggests provision of financial incentives and assistance to private property owners protecting listed species on their own lands.

Fiscal Note:  Not requested.

Testimony For:  None.

Testimony Against:  None.

Witnesses:  None.