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involved in implementation of the salinity control program. BLM is to be commended for this important first step to improve cooperation and coordination with the Basin States and other federal agencies, and to comply with BLM responsibilities pursuant to the Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Act, as amended. The Basin States and I are pleased with the current BLM administration's responsiveness in addressing the need for a salinity coordinator and are hopeful that submittal of the required report to Congress will signal a renewed effort by BLM to identify and implement projects to address the salinity control objectives required to maintain the water quality standards for salinity. It is commendable that BLM's budget focuses on ecosystems and watershed management, but it is essential that funds be targeted on specific subactivities and the results of those expenditures reported. This is necessary for accountability and effectiveness of the use of the funds.

I request the appropriation of $5.2 million in FY2006 for Colorado River salinity control activities of BLM, and that $800,000 of that amount be marked specifically for the Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Program, including projects and technical investigations. In addition, I request the appropriation of $33,343,000 for the Land Resources Subactivity: Soil, Water, and Air Management as requested by the President. I very much appreciate favorable consideration of these requests. I fully support the statement of the Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Forum submitted by Jack Barnett, the Forum's Executive Director, in request of appropriations for BLM for Colorado River salinity control activities.

Colorado3/blm-strat-HR.05

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The President's 2006 Budget for the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) includes a proposed reduction of $28.5 million in funding for mineral resources programs that will discontinue or reduce, among other things, global mineral resource assessments of critical mineral commodities. The Industrial Minerals Association - North America (IMA-NA) is opposed to reducing authorizations and appropriations below current levels, believing rather that our national capacity regarding economic intelligence should be strengthened.

The proposed reduction will terminate data collection and analysis for 100 mineral commodities in 180 countries outside the U.S. The budget cuts have the potential to limit severely available data on global industrial minerals production and consumption, while continuing to make domestic data readily available outside the U.S. In a globally competitive marketplace, that means that global competitors will know more about U.S. production and consumption than U.S. producers will know about their global competition.

IMA-NA believes the U.S. should promote an environment conducive to competition in the global marketplace and collection and analysis of mineral commodity data on an international basis serves that end. In today's global environment, the U.S. must maintain its capacity to assess critical mineral resources both within and outside the U.S. The private sector cannot perform this comprehensive assessment itself. To do so collectively could raise antitrust issues.

4061 Powder Mill Road, Suite 450, Calverton, MD 20705 1 301-595-5550 | fax 301-595-3303 | www.ima-na.org

The collection, analysis and dissemination of mineral commodity data on an international basis are inherently governmental functions and USGS is best prepared to continue to perform them.

We respectfully request your support for continued funding of collection and analysis of economic intelligence on the broad array of mineral commodities produced and consumed outside the U.S.

The Industrial Minerals Association – North America (IMA-NA) is a trade association organized to advance the interests of North American companies that mine or process industrial minerals. These minerals are used as feedstocks for the manufacturing and agricultural industries and are used to produce such essential products are glass, paints and coatings, ceramics, detergents and fertilizers. The IMA-NA membership includes producers of ball clay, bentonite, borates, feldspar, industrial sand, mica, soda ash (trona), and talc. IMA-NA's membership also includes many of the suppliers to the industrial minerals industry, including equipment manufacturers, railroads and trucking companies, and consultants.

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To:

From:

Date:
Re:

House Committee on Appropriations

Jennifer Ruffner, Heritage Coordinator

Queen Anne's County Historic Sites Consortium
March 11, 2005

Department of the Interior's National Park Service Chesapeake Bay Gateways
Network Program Funding for FY 2006

I am writing to urge the House of Representatives to include a $3 million Federal Fiscal Year Appropriation for the Department of the Interior's National Park Service Chesapeake Bay Gateways Network Program in the FY 2006 budget. This extremely important program was not included in President Bush's FY 2006 Budget, and without those funds, the multitude of natural and cultural heritage sites throughout the Chesapeake Bay Region will lose funding for the grants, cooperative marketing, network-wide programming and additional support that the Chesapeake Bay Gateways Network provides. The Senate is currently considering just such an appropriation, led by Senator Sarbanes, and it is vitally important that the House also put forward this appropriation.

The Chesapeake Bay Gateways Network has been a vital part of preservation and cultural tourism efforts in Queen Anne's County. The program funded a county-operated interpretive exhibit entitled "Our Chesapeake Legacy" in Chester, Maryland, which serves as a gateway experience to the Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake. The exhibit examines how the lives of people have been shaped by the Bay, and how they, in turn, shape the health of the Bay. Over 7,000 people visited the exhibit last year, and took away knowledge about the Chesapeake. It also allowed the county to install interpretive waysides at various locations exploring the history and nature at various points, including several panels detailing the history of the seafood industry in the Kent Narrows. These are projects that would not have been possible without the support of the Gateways Network.

The Chesapeake Bay Gateways Network not only funds important projects, it also has a much larger impact. From providing the ability to leverage additional funds and expand budgets, to facilitating partnerships between related sites throughout the Chesapeake Bay Watershed, the Network helps to increase visitation, which in turn creates more jobs, generates more tourist revenue, and increases access, which increases the overall public benefits of the member sites. By increasing public education about the Chesapeake Bay, the Gateways Network increases efforts to conserve and restore Bay resources.

The Gateways Network is stronger than each of its individual member sites. It provides technical assistance, increases marketing exposure, both online and with its guide-map, and provides a unique opportunity for cooperation.

I once again urge the House Committee on Appropriations to include a $3 million Federal Fiscal Year Appropriation for the Department of the Interior's National Park Service Chesapeake Bay Gateways Network Program in the FY 2006 budget.

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I am writing to request your support and assistance in insuring continued funding for the Upper Colorado River Endangered Fish Recovery Program and the San Juan River Basin Recovery Implementation Program. These ongoing cooperative programs have the dual objectives of recovering four species of endangered fish while water use continues and water development proceeds in compliance with the Endangered Species Act of 1973, state law, and interstate compacts. Partners in the two programs are the States of Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming, Indian tribes, federal agencies and water, power and environmental interests. Wyoming respectfully requests support and action by the Subcommittee that will provide the following:

1. An increase of $691,000 in the fiscal year 2006 Recovery Element budget (Resource Management Appropriation; Ecological Services Activity; Endangered Species Subactivity; Recovery Element) allocated to "Colorado River fish recovery project" to allow U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) Region 6 to meet its funding commitment to the Upper Colorado River Endangered Fish Recovery Program. This is the level of funding appropriated in fiscal years 2003, 2004 and 2005 for this program. These funds are needed for FWS direct participation in managing and implementing the Upper Colorado Program's actions, monitoring achievement of recovery goals, managing data associated with fish population abundance and sampling, evaluating stocking, and monitoring fish and habitat response to recovery actions.

2. The appropriation of $437,000 in operation and maintenance funds (Resource Management Appropriation; Fisheries Activity; Hatchery Operations & Maintenance Subactivity, Hatchery Operations Project) to support the ongoing operation of the FWS' Ouray National Fish Hatchery in Utah during fiscal year 2006.

3. The allocation of $211,000 in “recovery" funds for the San Juan River Basin Recovery Implementation Program to the FWS for fiscal year 2006 to meet FWS's Region 2 expenses associated with program management and implementing the San Juan Program's actions.

The enactment of Public Law 106-392, as amended by P.L. 107-375, authorized the Federal Government to provide up to $46 Million of cost sharing for these two ongoing recovery programs' remaining capital construction projects. Raising and stocking of the endangered fish produced at program hatchery facilities, restoring floodplain habitat and fish passage, regulating and supplying instream habitat flows,

TTY: 777-7860

PHONE: (307) 777-7434

FAX: (307) 632-3909

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