North Cascades National Park Service Complex Fish Stocking Act

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 2430 was introduced by the ranking Republican of the committee, Mr. Hastings of Washington, and has the bipartisan support of five other Members of the Washington delegation.

This legislation simply implements the recommendations of the National Park Service's 2008 final Environmental Impact Statement on mountain lakes fishery management in the North Cascades National Park.

Beginning in the 1880s, 91 of the 245 lakes within the park complex have been stocked with trout. When the North Cascades National Park was created in 1968, the Park Service continued to allow fish stocking under the supervision of the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife.

To address subsequent questions about the environmental impact of stocking the lakes, the Park Service agreed to complete a NEPA review on fisheries management within the park. This review began in 2002 and resulted in a record of decision last year, which concluded that fish stocking could continue in 42 of these lakes without adversely affecting native ecosystems.

The legislation creating the North Cascades National Park specifically identifies fishing as an important recreational use. Although recreational fishing is called for in the park's enabling act and stocking has continued throughout its existence, the Park Service has requested that this authority be specifically authorized for it to continue.

H.R. 2430 adopts the 42 lakes identified in the Park Service's Environmental Impact Statement as a ceiling for fish stocking, directs the agency to work with the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife to supervise this activity, and limits stocking to native or sterile fish.

Passing this legislation will authorize fish stocking in limited circumstances in this particular park rather than relying on a waiver from the director of the Park Service to the agency's general policy against stocking lakes. This will ensure that allowing this activity to continue where it has been carefully reviewed and found to be appropriate does not set a precedent for other Parks.

Mr. Speaker, the National Parks, Forests and Public Lands Subcommittee held hearings on this legislation on April 24 of last year, and it passed the House by voice vote on July 14, 2008. This bipartisan legislation has been carefully and narrowly drafted and has the support of recreation advocates, as well as State and local government. I urge my colleagues to support this bill.

I would yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 2430, legislation to allow for the continued stocking of fish in certain alpine lakes in the North Cascades National Park Complex, including the North Cascades National Park, Ross Lake National Recreation Area, and Lake Chelan National Recreation Area.

Many of these lakes have been stocked since the late 19th century, long before they became part of the National Park complex. For decades, volunteer groups, working with the State of Washington, have stocked trout in a number of lakes in this area under carefully constructed management plans written by State and Park Service biologists. In addition, congressional consideration of the creation of the North Cascades National Park clearly indicated that fish stocking should continue. More significantly, the legislation creating the Park even identifies fishing as an important recreational use.

When questions were raised about the environmental impacts of fish stocking, the Park Service prepared an Environmental Impact Statement on the fisheries in these mountain lakes. The preferred alternative selected in the final record of decision is to allow continued fish stocking in forty-two lakes where the agency has concluded there would be no adverse impact on native ecosystems. In this report the Park Service also requested explicit authority to allow fish stocking to continue within the Park.

In order to protect this longstanding practice in the North Cascades, I introduced H.R. 2430 to ensure that fish stocking can continue. After years of consultation with local leaders on this issue, it is clear to me that communities in and around the North Cascades National Park Complex want fish stocking to continue. Many tourists visit the Park for its scenic beauty as well as for its fishing opportunities, helping make fish stocking an important component of the Central Washington economy.

Finally, I would like to thank many of my Washington state colleagues who cosponsored H.R. 2430, including Rick Larsen, Norm Dicks, Cathy McMorris Rodgers, Brian Baird and Adam Smith. I especially would like to note the assistance provided by Norm Dicks, whose involvement in this issue goes back to his time as a staff member in Congress. I urge all my colleagues to support this common sense legislation and ensure that local residents and all visitors to the North Cascades National Park can continue to enjoy recreational fishing as they have for more than a century.

Mr. President, I would like to announce for the information of the Senate and the public that a hearing has been scheduled before Committee on Energy and Natural Resources Subcommittee on National Parks.

The hearing will be held on Wednesday, July 22, 2009, at 2:30 p.m. in room SD-366 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building.

The purpose of the hearing is to receive testimony on the following bills:

S. 635, to amend the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act to designate a segment of Illabot Creek in Skagit County, Washington, as a component of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System;

S. 715, to establish a pilot program to provide for the preservation and rehabilitation of historic lighthouses;

S. 742, to expand the boundary of the Jimmy Carter National Historic Site in the State of Georgia, to redesignate the unit as a National Historical Park, and for other purposes;

S. 1270, to modify the boundary of the Oregon Caves National Monument, and for other purposes;

S.1418 and H.R. 2330, to direct the Secretary of the Interior to carry out a study to determine the suitability and feasibility of establishing Camp Hale as a unit of the National Park System; and

H.R. 2430, to direct the Secretary of the Interior to continue stocking fish in certain lakes in the North Cascades National Park, Ross Lake National Recreation Area, and Lake Chelan National Recreation Area.

Because of the limited time available for the hearing, witnesses may testify by invitation only. However, those wishing to submit written testimony for the hearing record should send it to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, United States Senate, Washington, DC 20510-6150, or by email to anna_fox@energy.senate.gov.

For further information, please contact David Brooks at (202) 224- 9863 or Anna Fox at (202) 224-1219.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to express my support for H.R. 2430, legislation which will allow for the continued stocking of trout in mountain lakes in the North Cascades National Park, Lake Chelan National Recreation Area, and Ross Lake National Recreation Area in my home State of Washington.

For over 100 years, sportsmen and women in the Pacific Northwest have stocked lakes in the North Cascades with trout early each summer and returned later in the year with family and friends to camp and fish.

Fish stocking brings not only recreational benefits, but also economic benefits for rural communities that rely on sportsmen and park visitors to sustain local businesses.

The practice of fish stocking is supported by both the angling community and the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife. Earlier this year, the North Cascades National Park issued an Environmental Impact Statement supporting the continued stocking of fish.

However, a recent legal opinion issued by the National Parks Service threatens this decades-old tradition. The Parks Service has determined that, without legal clarification from Congress, they will be unable to allow fish stocking in the future.

H.R. 2430 would provide the Parks Service with the clarification it needs to continue to allow fish stocking. This legislation will authorize the Secretary of the Interior, in coordination with the State of Washington, to allow sportsmen to stock native or functionally sterile trout in up to 42 alpine lakes in the North Cascades National Park, Lake Chelan National Recreation Area, and Ross Lake National Recreation Area.

I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this bipartisan legislation to protect the tradition of fish stocking in and around the North Cascades National Park.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 2430) to direct the Secretary of the Interior to continue stocking fish in certain lakes in the North Cascades National Park, Ross Lake National Recreation Area, and Lake Chelan National Recreation Area.

Mr. 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.

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 2430, introduced by the ranking member of the Natural Resources Committee, Doc Hastings, directs the Secretary of the Interior to stock certain lakes in the North Cascades National Park with fish.

Fish did not naturally inhabit any of the 245 lakes in the North Cascades of

Washington because they are at such high elevations. But in the late 1800s, local officials began stocking some of these mountain lakes with nonnative fish. By the late 1930s, the State had assumed management of this effort, and recreational fishing in these lakes became increasingly popular.

In 1968, North Cascades was designated as a national park, and in 1988, the Steven T. Mather Wilderness Area was set aside within the park. Now, all but one of these lakes are located within the Mather Wilderness Area. Stocking continued, though, through a series of National Park Service waivers, but the National Park Service has made it clear that stocking will not continue unless the practice is specifically authorized by Congress.

H.R. 2430 will provide that authorization. We have no objections to

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