Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr. and others letter to Ralph Regula and Norman Dicks, March 21, 2000

Congress of tfje ®mteb States I&ousc of 3&Epreaentatibee Mteftington, ЗЭС 20515 March 21, 2000 The Honorable Ralph Regula, Chairman The Honorable Norm Dicks, Ranking Member Subcommittee on Interior and Related Agencies Committee on Appropriations B-308 Rayburn HOB Washington, DC 20515 Gentlemen: As fellow members that support the sound conservation of our fish and wildlife lands, we are writing to encourage you and your colleagues on the Interior Appropriations Subcommittee to endorse the North American Wetlands Conservation Fund at the highest funding level possible for FY 2001. We commend the support your Subcommittee has provided to this program over the last decade and would like to reiterate a few of NAWCA’s key attributes. The North American Wetlands Conservation Act is a landmark investment in conserving America’s fish and wildlife resources. Every federal dollar that is granted under NAWCA is directly matched by nearly three dollars of private, state, and local investment. NAWCA is a voluntary, non-regulatory, incentive-based program. As a result, non-federal funding from diverse sources such as small landowners to large corporations has contributed more than $848 million to NAWCA. More than 755 projects have been approved and initiated in 47 states including Canada and Mexico. This program has broad support among Members of Congress, the International Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, and other private conservation organizations including Ducks Unlimited Inc. and the Nature Conservancy. As you may already know, the North American Wetlands Conservation Act (NAWCA) was enacted in 1989 to provide for public-private partnerships in support of the North American Waterfowl Management Plan, a wildlife conservation partnership agreement between the United States, Canada, and Mexico. The Plan delivers on it’s conservation goals through partnership initiatives known as joint ventures. The joint ventures are integral to making the Plan and the NAWCA program work on a complimentary basis. The Plan’s goal is to produce and stimulate leveraged partnerships that bring varied stakeholders and sources of revenue together to protect, enhance, and manage habitat for migratory birds, waterfowl, and all other wildlife that depend upon wetlands for their survival. Since its enactment a decade ago, NAWCA has proven effective far beyond the conservation of migratory birds and their habitat. Freshwater fisheries and threatened wildlife