Coastal and Estuarine Land Conservation Program Act

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 1907 the Coastal and Estuarine Land Conservation and Protection Act authored by my friend and fellow co-chair of the House Oceans Caucus from New Jersey, Mr. Jim Saxton.

I would like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude for all that Mr. Saxton has done during his distinguished career in this House to help protect and promote the oceans. He has been a great ally in the fight to keep our oceans from harm and make sure that they will be healthy and productive for our grandchildren's grandchildren. Mr. Saxton joined me in coauthoring a comprehensive ocean management bill, H.R. 21, known as Oceans-21, that would create a national ocean policy and create coordinated State and Federal management of our oceans. I will continue the fight for the oceans but I will miss having the leadership, friendship, and vision of Jim Saxton next year.

The conservation of coastal habitat a necessary action identified in the final reports of both the Pew Oceans Commission and the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy. Coastal areas are vitally important to our ocean health, since most of our use of the oceans, both recreational and commercial take place in the coastal zone. Estuaries provide even- more important services such as mitigating the impacts from runoff and are known to be the nurseries that support our country's fisheries.

This bill is necessary to authorize a coastal land conservation program and extend the utility of one of our best ocean management laws: the Coastal Zone Management Act. The Coastal Zone Management Act allows States and the Federal Government to cooperate in the management of the resources and environment of the coasts. States which have approved coastal management plans and National Estuarine Research Reserves will be eligible for grants to conserve coastal lands and estuaries that have significant conservation, recreation, ecological, historical, or aesthetic values, or that are threatened by conversion from their natural, undeveloped, or recreational state to other uses or could be managed or restored to effectively conserve, enhance, or restore ecological function.

I also lend my support to this bill because I have seen the good that this program can do. The Elkhorn Slough, covering 1,330 acres in my district, is one of the relatively few coastal wetlands remaining in California. It became a part of the National Estuarine Research Reserve System in 1979. The main channel of the slough, which winds inland nearly seven miles, is flanked by a broad salt marsh second in size in California only to San Francisco Bay.

Elkhorn Slough is home to more than 400 species of invertebrates, 80 species of fish and 200 species of birds. The channels and tidal creeks of the slough are nurseries for many species of fish and help support fishing off of the West Coast. At least six threatened or endangered species utilize the slough or its surrounding uplands, including peregrine falcons, Santa Cruz long-toed salamanders, California red- legged frogs, brown pelicans, least terns and Southern Sea Otters. The slough is also an important stop on the Pacific Flyway, providing feeding and resting ground for many types of migrating waterfowl and shorebirds.

Mr. Speaker, this bill authorizes a program that is necessary for the protection of our coasts and our oceans for future generations. I cannot emphasize enough the need for this Congress to provide for ocean stewardship now. I support the Coastal and Estuarine Land Conservation and Protection Act and I urge my colleagues to join me.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 1907, which formally codifies NOAA's Coastal and Estuarine Land Conservation Program, informally known as the CELCP program.

First, I want to thank the chairman of the Natural Resources Committee, Mr. Rahall, and the chairwoman of the subcommittee, Ms. Bordallo, for bringing H.R. 1907 before us today. I also want to join with the ranking member, Mr. Young, in recognizing the author of this legislation, Mr. Saxton, for his leadership in all of the areas that he has worked on, especially in this area. Those comments of my colleague from Alaska were very well said. For years, Mr. Saxton has been a champion for the marine environment, and his passion for our oceans will be missed.

Mr. Speaker, it's well-known that more and more people are moving to the coast to enjoy its beauty and its recreational opportunities. An estimated 60 percent of Americans will live along our coasts during the next 2 years. More than ever, the pressures of urbanization and of coastal pollution threaten to impair watersheds, to impact wildlife habitat and to cause irreparable damage to our fragile coastal ecology.

We see strong signals of what continuing down this path could bring us: beach closings, fish kills, human health impacts, and a lack of public access to beaches and to coastal waters. That's why we need initiatives like the Coastal and Estuarine Land Conservation Program, the CELCP program.

This existing program pairs willing sellers through community-based initiatives with sources of Federal funds in order to enhance environmental protection. Lands can be acquired in full or through easements, and none of the lands purchased through this program would be held by the Federal Government. It puts land conservation initiatives in the hands of State and local communities. That's why it's supported by the Coastal States Organization.

In my congressional district, we've worked collaboratively with coastal communities, with environmental groups, with willing sellers, and with the State to conserve lands around the Morro Bay National Estuary, on the nationally significant Gaviota Coast and near the Piedras Blancas Outstanding Natural Area.

These lands are home to a wide variety of plants and animal species that are particularly threatened by encroaching development and pollution. By working with local communities to purchase lands and easements, California has been able to successfully preserve the natural and scenic heritage of some of its last undeveloped stretches of coastline.

Mr. Speaker, programs like CELCP will help other coastal States to participate in these community-based conservation efforts. Given the importance of healthy, productive and accessible coastal areas, it's time to formally authorize CELCP. This legislation makes important improvements in the program. It provides a better framework for its administration, and it will ensure the consistent implementation throughout the country.

I know that we all would like to do something like this in honor and in the memory of our good friend in his days in Congress, Mr. Saxton. So I want to thank the chairwoman and Mr. Saxton for their leadership on this legislation. I look forward to working with them in the coming days to ensure its passage so that we can fill this vital need for coastal protection. I urge all of my colleagues to support H.R. 1907.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to urge my colleagues to join me in supporting authorization of the Coastal and Estuarine Land Conservation Program. H.R. 1907--the Coastal and Estuarine Land Conservation Program Act authorizes a voluntary partnership program to provide badly needed Federal funds for the purchase and protection of sensitive coastal ecosystems with the goal of better ensuring the ecological and economic health of our coastal communities.

It is well known that more and more people are moving to the coast to enjoy its beauty and recreational opportunities. An estimated 60 percent of Americans will live along our coasts by 2010. Fourteen of our Nation's 20 largest cities are located on the coast. More than ever, the pressures of urbanization and pollution along our Nation's shores threaten to impair watersheds, impact wildlife habitat and cause irreparable damage to the fragile coastal ecology.

Created by Congress in fiscal year 2002, the Coastal and Estuarine Land Conservation Program--also known as CELP--was modeled after the successful Forest Legacy Program. To date, this program has invested nearly $200 million towards 150 conservation projects in 26 of the Nation's 35 coastal and Great Lakes States and territories. This Federal investment has leveraged more than an equal amount of State, local and private funding, demonstrating the importance of coastal protection throughout the Nation and the critical role of Federal funding to its success.

More importantly, the program has helped to conserve lands and waters that will offer numerous benefits to local communities by preserving water quality, natural areas for wildlife and birds, and outdoor recreational opportunities--thereby protecting for the future the very things we love about the coasts. Although the program has been in existence for six years, it has yet to be formally authorized. This legislation seeks to do just that.

This bill will formally authorize this Federal/State partnership program explicitly for conservation of coastal lands. CELP will award grants on a competitive basis to the 35 coastal and Great Lakes States and territories or National Estuarine Research Reserves for the purpose of protecting lands that are critical to the health of our coasts and estuaries. This legislation will allow coastal States to compete for 1 to 1 matching funds to acquire land or easements from willing sellers to protect coastal areas that have considerable conservation, recreation, ecological, historical or aesthetic values threatened by development or conversion.

By establishing a plan for the preservation of our coastal areas, the Act will build on the foundation laid down by the Coastal Zone Management Act, and will encourage voluntary land conservation partnerships among the Federal Government, State agencies, local governments, private landowners and nonprofits. It will not only improve the quality of coastal areas and the marine life they support, but also sustain surrounding communities and their way of life.

I thank Representative Capps and all of our cosponsors for their support of H.R. 1907 and I ask my colleagues to support this legislation.

Mr. Speaker, due to a traffic problem, I am a little bit late in getting into this Chamber to make comment on H.R. 3299, and I so much appreciate the opportunity.

That bill under consideration today provides for a boundary adjustment to the Roosevelt National Forest to correct an erroneous survey.

In May of 2006, a number of my constituents who live in the Crystal Lakes Subdivision in Larimer County, Colorado contacted my office after they received notice from the Forest Service that they were encroaching upon Federal property. You can imagine what a surprise this was to those folks. Many of those people who had purchased the land in the 1970s, improved it, built homes on it and had literally lived there for decades.

However, the Forest Service informed these homeowners that a survey that had been conducted in 2003 and in 2004 had found that the earlier survey that was conducted in 1975 was, indeed, inaccurate. This 1975 survey was privately commissioned and was used in the development of the Crystal Lakes Subdivision.

Thirty years after the property was originally developed, landowners have now been informed that the portions of the land they paid for and that they improved may actually be on Federal property. Even more, a number of these landowners were faced with the reality that their homes might be on Federal land.

The property owners bought this land and made the improvements all in good faith, and are now faced with an undue burden to deal with this mistake.

The only recourse for individuals whose homes are within the area of dispute is the Small Tracts Act. However, this requires homeowners to pay for this land a second time at current fair market value. Obviously, the land prices in this beautiful area have increased dramatically over the past three decades and this purchase would place an enormous financial burden on these homeowners. The uncertainty associated with this dispute has made it difficult for impacted property owners to sell their property. H.R. 3299 would remedy these problems by conveying without consideration the disputed areas to the impacted homeowners.

The 7 acres involved in this boundary dispute are a miniscule fraction of the 1.3 million acres of the Arapaho-Roosevelt National Forest. Because this land has been cleared and it has been occupied, obviously, for a number of years, transferring it back to the Forest Service would not enhance the environment or the scenic attributes of the area. Additionally, H.R. 3299 would not in any way impact the integrity or affect the operation of the forest.

The landowners impacted by this boundary dispute need resolution and certainty. H.R. 3299 did that by allowing them to keep the land they purchased and improved.

Mr. Speaker, I want to take this opportunity to thank Chairman Rahall and Congressman Young, as well as Chairman Grijalva and Mr. Bishop for moving this legislation through the Natural Resources Committee. I am grateful for the support of my colleagues of H.R. 3299.

Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 1907) to authorize the acquisition of land and interests in land from willing sellers to improve the conservation of, and to enhance the ecological values and functions of, coastal and estuarine areas to benefit both the environment and the economies of coastal communities, and for other purposes, as amended.

Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the bill under consideration.

Madam Speaker, H.R. 1907 would authorize the existing Coastal and Estuarine Land Conservation Program, which is administered by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

This very popular program was first established under the fiscal year 2002 Appropriations Act for the Departments of Commerce, Justice, State, and Related Agencies.

Since its inception, the CELCP program has awarded more than $176 million in matching grants to eligible coastal States and territories to acquire properties or conservation easements from willing sellers to protect fish and wildlife habitat from future development and to preserve scarce coastal open space.

This bill was introduced by Congressman James Saxton and was subsequently reported by the Committee on Natural Resources. This legislation would formally authorize the program consistent with past appropriations acts and with NOAA's own program guidelines.

Madam Speaker, the existing CELCP program is both targeted and effective, and it addresses a critical habitat conservation need in many coastal States

and territories. The bill is strongly supported by the administration, by the Coastal States Organization and by several respected conservation organizations, including the Nature Conservancy and the Trust for Public Land.

I commend Congressman Saxton for his steadfast efforts to authorize this program and to protect and to conserve the coastal zone of the United States. I ask my colleagues to support the passage of this important legislation.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as she may consume to my friend, the gentlewoman from California (Mrs. Capps).

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I too would like to go on record as commending Mr. Saxton for his long and

distinguished career as a champion for the oceans. We will all miss him and his passion for protecting the marine environment.

Mr. Speaker, I urge all Members to support the bill before us today. In closing, I would like to thank the gentleman from Alaska, the distinguished ranking member of the Natural Resources Committee, Mr. Young, for managing the bills with me today.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.