Newsgroups: bit.listserv.biosph-l
Date:         Mon, 28 Sep 1992 19:27:35 EDT
Reply-To:     "Norman C. Saunders" <NYS@NIHCU.BITNET>
From:         "Norman C. Saunders" <NYS@NIHCU.BITNET>
Subject:      FWS & NPS Provide Disabled Fishing Access

Fish and Wildlife Service
National Park Service


For Release: September 23, 1992


Hugh Vickery  (FWS) 202-208-5634
Carol Anthony (NPS) 202-208-6843


         U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Park Service
              Improve Access To Fishing Sites For Disabled


     Fishing, a favorite pastime of more than 34 million Americans,  has
been out  of reach  of millions  of citizens  whose disabilities made it
difficult or impossible for them to gain access to fishing sites.

     But that  is changing  in many areas of the country  because of new
projects undertaken  by the Interior Department's U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service and National Park Service.

     "President Bush   wants  every American  to have the opportunity to
experience the  joy that  he feels when he goes fishing," said Secretary
of the  Interior Manuel  Lujan.   "At the Department, we have given high
priority to  projects that  will provide  easier access  to fishing  for
people who have disabilities."

     At nine  sites from  Washington, D.C.,  to Seattle, Washington, the
two Department  of the  Interior agencies  have built  or plan  to build
barrier-free fishing facilities to allow access to disabled anglers.

     In addition,  many states  have constructed fishing ramps and other
accommodations for  disabled citizens with money from the Federal Aid in
Sport Fish  Restoration Fund,  supported  by  Federal  excise  taxes  on
fishing equipment.

     "No American  should be  denied the pleasure of casting a line on a
quiet lake  at dawn  or the  thrill of reeling in a whopper just because
they are  disabled," said  Mike Hayden, Assistant Secretary of the Inte-
rior for Fish and Wildlife and Parks, who issued a call to action to the
two agencies to improve access for disabled people on public lands.

     "The Interior  Department is  committed to  the principle  that en-
joying the  great outdoors is every American's birthright," Hayden said,
"and we  are determined  to knock down the barriers standing between our
citizens and that birthright."

     The projects  undertaken by  the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in-
clude:

o A  disabled-access fishing  pier on Cash Lake at the Patuxent Wildlife
  Research Center  in Prince  Georges County,  Maryland.   The  Patuxent
  pier, completed  during the  summer of  1991, accommodates wheelchairs
  and provides good angling for bass, bluegill, and pickerel.   The site
  can accommodate  50 disabled  fishermen a  day and  offers  tremendous
  wildlife viewing opportunities.

o A  planned $1-million state-of-the-art disabled-access fishing area at
  the national Fisheries Research Center in Leetown, West Virginia, that
  includes both  a trout  pond and  a bass  pond with  accessible piers,
  walkways, and  fishing islands.   The  new facility, which is still in
  the design  phase, will  accommodate more  than 125 disabled anglers a
  day including veterans from the nearby Martinsburg Veterans Hospital.

o Development  of an  urban fishing  area in Chicago in concert with the
  Cook County  Forest Preserve  District, the State of Illinois, and the
  National Fish  and Wildlife  Foundation.   The project will include at
  least two  disabled-access fishing  areas and several wetland wildlife
  observation points  on a  120-acre urban lake.  It will accommodate 60
  disabled anglers a day.

o Plans  for transfer  of 10  acres from  the Navy's  Puget Sound  Naval
  Station to  the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for the construction of
  a disabled-access  fishing area in Seattle, Washington.  The transfer,
  if approved  under the  Congressional  Base  Closure  and  Realignment
  Process, will benefit children from nearby Seattle Children's Hospital
  and Medical  Center and  disabled children  in the  King County  area.
  Both projects would be built through public-private partnerships.

     Meanwhile, the  National Park  Service has identified five projects
in the Washington, D.C., area to be included in its Barrier Free Fishing
Action Plan.   The projects are at Hains Point (East Potomac Park), West
Potomac Park,  Anacostia Park,  Theodore Roosevelt  Island, all  in  the
District, and Jones Point, in Alexandria, Virginia.

     The National  Park Service  will improve  fishing quality, increase
access and  parking for  vehicles  used  by  disabled  people,  increase
availability of  restrooms and  water, monitor water levels at low tide,
and upgrade the landscape and site accommodations.

     Work will  include designation  of disabled  parking  spaces,  con-
struction of wheelchair-accessible curb ramps and special fishing piers,
procurement of  new comfort  facilities, and  modification  of  existing
railings to  allow anglers  in wheelchairs  to safely  enjoy fishing  in
traditional Potomac  and  Anacostia  River  hot  spots  alongside  their
friends and neighbors.

     Under the  Federal Aid in Sport Fish program, which is administered
by the  U.S. Fish  and Wildlife Service, many states have opened fishing
opportunities for  disabled citizens.   The Federal Aid  fund pays up to
75 percent of the cost of a project.

     The fund  is supported  by  a  10-percent  excise  tax  on  fishing
equipment and a 3-percent tax on electric trolling motors and sonar fish
finders.   The money  is apportioned  according to  a formula that takes
into account  the number  of licensed fishermen  in a state and the size
of its  land and  water resources.  No state gets more than 5 percent or
less than 1 percent of the total.

     For example,  the state  of Mississippi  used Federal  Aid funds to
construct a 350-foot fishing pier accessible to people in wheelchairs at
Ross-Barnett Reservoir in Jackson, Mississippi.

     States even  have found ways to provide access in areas with rugged
terrain.     The  state  of  Colorado,  for  example,  joined  with  the
Administration last  year to build a boardwalk and fishing platforms for
disabled anglers  on the  Big Thompson River west of Loveland, Colorado,
even though  the river  flows through  a steep  canyon.   As many  as 18
anglers in wheelchairs can fish for trout in the river at one time.

     "It is  a tribute  to this  country that  people at  all levels  of
government have  been working so hard to ensure everybody gets to hang a
'Gone Fishin'  sign on  their door  once in  a while," said John Turner,
Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

============================================

This press release has been brought to you as a public service
by The Osprey's Nest, a computer bulletin board for birders and
other amateur naturalists in the Washington, DC, area.  The Osprey's
Nest can be reached at 301-989-9036, 300-9600 baud, 24 hours per
day.

Neither The Osprey's Nest nor its operator are in any way
connected with the Fish and Wildlife Service or the U.S. Department
of the Interior.  The views expressed in this press release
generally do not reflect those of the sysop.