**STATEMENT**

**JOEL HOLTROP**

**DEPUTY CHIEF**

**NATIONAL FOREST SYSTEM**

**FOREST SERVICE**

**UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE**

**BEFORE THE**

**UNITED STATES SENATE**

**COMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND NATURAL RESOURCES**

**Subcommittee on National Parks**

**MAY 15, 2007**

**CONCERNING**

**S. 1057, NEW RIVER WILD AND SCENIC RIVER ACT OF 2007**

**S. 1281, SNAKE HEADWATERS LEGACY ACT OF 2007**

**H.R. 247, DESIGNATION OF "JIM WEAVER LOOP TRAIL," WILLAMETTE NATIONAL
FOREST**

Mr. Chairman and members of the subcommittee, thank you for the
opportunity to provide the views of the Department of Agriculture on
these bills: S. 1057, New River Wild and Scenic River Act of 2007; S.
1281, Snake Headwaters Legacy Act of 2007; and H.R. 247, which
designates a Forest Service trail in the Willamette National Forest as a
National Recreation Trail in honor of Jim Weaver, a former member of the
House of Representatives.

**S. 1057, New River Wild and Scenic River Act of 2007**

S. 1057, New River Wild and Scenic River Act of 2007, amends section
3(a) of the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act (16 U.S.C. 1274(a)) to designate
a segment of the New River in the States of Virginia and North Carolina
as a component of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System. The
segment to be designated by S. 1057 is immediately downstream of the
portion of the New River added to the National Wild and Scenic Rivers
System by the Secretary of the Interior through Section 2(a)(ii) in
1976. It is located entirely off National Forest System land,
approximately 7 miles from the Jefferson National Forest in Virginia and
40 miles north of the Pisgah National Forest in North Carolina.

The Department does not support the designation of this segment of the
New River as a component of the Wild and Scenic Rivers System without
first reviewing or analyzing the river segment to determine its
eligibility and suitability for designation. Accordingly, the Department
does support the designation of this segment as a study river under
section 5(a) of the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act. This study designation
affords the river protection from the adverse impacts of federally
assisted water resources projects and from the sale of any federal lands
within the one-half mile study river corridor. It also requires the
appropriate Secretary to provide conditions to safeguard the area in any
mineral leasing of federal lands, and directs all federal agencies to
protect river values in actions they propose within or adjacent to the
study river corridor. These protections would remain in effect for a
three-year period following the transmittal of the final study report
from the President to the Congress, regardless of the study's finding.

**S. 1281, Snake Headwaters Legacy Act of 2007**

S. 1281, Snake Headwaters Legacy Act of 2007, amends section 3(a) of the
Wild and Scenic Rivers Act (16 U.S.C. 1274(a)) to designate segments of
the Snake River system in the State of Wyoming as components of the
National Wild and Scenic Rivers System.

The Department supports S. 1281 with several technical corrections, and
defers to the Department of the Interior in regard to the portions of
the bill that designate the segments that flow through lands
administered by the National Park Service.

The Bridger-Teton National Forest contains the headwaters of the Snake
River; the majority of the tributaries to the Snake River segment below
Jackson Lake, Pacific Creek and Buffalo Fork and its tributaries, and
the entire Blackrock Creek tributary; the majority of the Gros Ventre
River and the entirety of its Crystal Creek tributary; and, the two
sections of the Hoback River, and its principal tributaries, Granite,
Shoal, Cliff and Willow Creeks, and the Snake River from the confluence
of the Hoback River to Palisades Reservoir, including Bailey and Wolf
Creeks.

All of the river segments on National Forest System land have been found
to be eligible for inclusion in the National Wild and Scenic Rivers
System. These rivers are free-flowing and provide outstanding scenery
and recreational opportunities. Many flow through important geologic
areas and support diverse populations of aquatic and wildlife species,
including Yellowstone native cutthroat trout and grizzly bear.

We recommend the definition of "Secretary concerned" in section 3(1) and
the requirement that each river segment be managed by the Secretary
concerned in section 5(a) be clarified so that those proposed segments
that form the boundary between national park and national forest system
lands

are clearly assigned to one or the other Secretary. In addition we
recommend that section 5(b) be eliminated, as the Wild and Scenic Rivers
Act includes direction to develop a comprehensive management plan within
three full fiscal years and specifies its contents. We would be pleased
to work with the Subcommittee to address these and other technical
corrections.

**H.R. 247, designation of the "Jim Weaver Loop Trail," Willamette
National Forest**

H.R. 247 would designate a 19.6 mile trail known as Trail 3590, the
Waldo Lake Loop, on the Willamette National Forest as a national
recreation trail in honor of Jim Weaver, former member of the House of
Representatives from Oregon. The trail would be a component of the
National Trails System and would be renamed the "Jim Weaver Loop Trail."
The bill would also authorize the Secretary of Agriculture to prepare,
install, and maintain an interpretive sign honoring the life and career
of Congressman Jim Weaver.

The Department supports enactment of this legislation to honor former
Representative Jim Weaver.

This concludes my prepared statement and I would be pleased to answer
any questions you may have.