I

104TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 4028

To amend the Great Lakes Fish and Wildlife Restoration Act of 1990 to

provide for implementation of recommendations of the United States

Fish and Wildlife Service contained in the Great Lakes Fishery Restoration Study Report.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

SEPTEMBER 5, 1996

Mr. LATOURETTE (for himself and Mr. DINGELL) introduced the following

bill; which was referred to the Committee on Resources

A BILL

To amend the Great Lakes Fish and Wildlife Restoration

Act of 1990 to provide for implementation of recommendations of the United States Fish and Wildlife

Service contained in the Great Lakes Fishery Restoration

Study Report.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Great Lakes Fish and

5 Wildlife Restoration Act of 1996’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 The Congress finds the following:
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1 (1) The Great Lakes Fishery Resources Res2 toration Study, for which a report was submitted to

3 the Congress in 1995, was a comprehensive study of

4 the status, assessment, management, and restoration

5 needs of the fishery resources of the Great Lakes

6 Basin, and was conducted through the joint effort of

7 the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, State

8 fish and wildlife resource management agencies, In9 dian tribes, and the Great Lakes Fishery Commis10 sion.

11 (2) This study found the following:

12 (A) Physical changes to the Great Lakes

13 through dredging, construction of hydroelectric

14 and other dams, stone revetment projects, clear15 ing of shoreline vegetation, and increased agri16 culture have altered habitats, fish spawning

17 mortality, erosion, sedimentation, oxygen levels,

18 contaminant transport, nutrient loading, and

19 aesthetic character. Combined effects of over20 exploitation, habitat impairment, and destabiliz21 ing effects of nonindigenous species are respon22 sible for most of the decline of native fishes in

23 the Great Lakes. Physical changes to the near24 shore environments, riverine tributaries, and

25 wetlands by development projects have affected
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1 those species relying on these habitats for criti2 cal phases of their life histories. Monitoring of

3 contaminants and analysis of their effects

4 should be coordinated and expanded.

5 (B) Significant habitats necessary for self6 sustaining populations of fish and wildlife are

7 threatened or impaired. Actions should include

8 identifying and protecting habitats that are

9 used by fish and wildlife for spawning, breed10 ing, nesting, rearing and feeding, and rehabili11 tating degraded habitats to be utilized by a di12 verse community.

13 (C) Working under the cooperatively devel14 oped guidance of the Strategic Plan for Man15 agement of the Great Lakes Fisheries, pub16 lished by the Great Lakes Fishery Commission

17 in 1980, and the Great Lakes Water Quality

18 Agreement, State, Provincial, Native American

19 tribal, and Federal agencies bordering the

20 Great Lakes have made significant progress to21 ward the goal of restoring a healthy fish com22 munity to the Great Lakes. Differences in man23 date, perception of priorities, and style of man24 agement create major institutional impediments

25 to systematic and comprehensive coordination
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1 of ecosystem management. Many of the current

2 problems are, in fact, the unintended con3 sequences of uncoordinated management of

4 water quality, fisheries, shipping, and human

5 developments in the Great Lakes Basin. Con6 cepts of responsible resource use and manage7 ment and biological conservation should not be

8 at odds, but should be integrated via partner9 ships to meet future needs. Information ex10 change and cross-program forums should be es11 tablished to encourage management. Setting of

12 specific management goals is central to the co13 ordination of management efforts. Fishery man14 agers should increase their involvement with the

15 Binational Program, Remedial Action Plans,

16 Lake-Wide Management Plans, and the Envi17 ronmental Monitoring and Assessment Program

18 planning process.

19 SEC. 3. REFERENCE.

20 Whenever in this Act an amendment is expressed in

21 terms of an amendment to, or repeal of, a section or other

22 provision, the reference shall be considered to be made to

23 that section or other provision of the Great Lakes Fish

24 and Wildlife Restoration Act of 1990 (16 U.S.C. 941 et

25 seq.), as set forth in title I of Public Law 101–573.
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1 SEC. 4. PURPOSES.

2 Section 1003 (16 U.S.C. 941a) is amended—

3 (1) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by

4 striking ‘‘this Act’’ and inserting ‘‘this title’’;

5 (2) by striking paragraph (1);

6 (3) by redesignating paragraphs (2) and (3) in

7 order as paragraphs (1) and (2);

8 (4) by amending paragraph (1), as so redesig9 nated, to read as follows:

10 ‘‘(1) to develop and implement proposals for the

11 restoration of fish and wildlife resources in the

12 Great Lakes Basin; and’’; and

13 (5) in paragraph (2), as so redesignated, by

14 striking ‘‘habitat of’’ and inserting ‘‘habitat in’’.

15 SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS.

16 Section 1004 (16 U.S.C. 941b) is amended—

17 (1) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by

18 striking ‘‘this Act’’ and inserting ‘‘this title’’;

19 (2) in paragraph (8) by striking ‘‘plant or ani20 mal’’ and inserting ‘‘plant, animal, or microorga21 nism’’;

22 (3) in paragraph (9) by striking ‘‘and’’ after

23 the semicolon at the end, in paragraph (10) by strik24 ing the period at the end and inserting a semicolon,

25 and by redesignating paragraphs (9) and (10) as

26 paragraphs (10) and (11), respectively;
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1 (4) by inserting after paragraph (8) the follow2 ing new paragraph:

3 ‘‘(9) the term ‘restoration’ means to rehabilitate

4 and maintain the structure, function, diversity, and

5 dynamics of a biological system, including the rees6 tablishment of self-sustaining populations of fish and

7 wildlife;’’; and

8 (5) by adding at the end the following new

9 paragraphs:

10 ‘‘(12) the term ‘Report’ means the United

11 States Fish and Wildlife Service report entitled

12 ‘‘Great Lakes Fishery Resources Restoration

13 Study’’, as submitted to the President of the Senate

14 and the Speaker of the House of Representatives on

15 September 13, 1995;

16 ‘‘(13) the term ‘Committee’ means the Great

17 Lakes Fish and Wildlife Restoration Proposal Re18 view Committee established by section 1005(c); and

19 ‘‘(14) the term ‘non-Federal source’ includes

20 State government, local governments, Indian Tribes,

21 other governmental entities, private entities, and in22 dividuals.’’.
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1 SEC. 6. IDENTIFICATION, REVIEW, AND IMPLEMENTATION

2 OF PROPOSALS.

3 Section 1005 (16 U.S.C. 941c) is amended to read

4 as follows:

5 ‘‘SEC. 1005. IDENTIFICATION, REVIEW, AND IMPLEMENTA6 TION OF PROPOSALS.

7 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Director, in consultation

8 with the Committee, shall ensure that proposals resulting

9 from recommendations of the Study or identified through

10 an annual request to State and Tribal entities described

11 in subsection (b) are developed and, within available ap12 propriations, the highest priority proposals are imple13 mented.

14 ‘‘(b) IDENTIFICATION OF PROPOSALS.—The Director

15 shall annually request that State Directors and Indian

16 Tribes, in cooperation or partnership with other interested

17 entities, submit fish and wildlife resources restoration pro18 posals based on the results of the Study or other sources

19 such as recommendations of the Council of Lake Commit20 tees sponsored by the Great Lakes Fishery Commission.

21 These proposals shall be submitted in the manner and

22 form prescribed by the Director. The proposals shall be

23 consistent with the goals of the Great Lakes Water Qual24 ity Agreement, as revised in 1987, the 1954 Convention

25 on Great Lakes Fisheries, State and Tribal fishery man26 agement jurisdiction, the Joint Strategic Plan for the
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1 Management of Great Lakes Fisheries, the Nonindigenous

2 Aquatic Nuisance Prevention and Control Act of 1990, the

3 North American Waterfowl Management Plan, and var4 ious joint ventures established under that plan. Notwith5 standing any other provision of law, the Great Lakes Fish6 ery Commission shall retain authority and responsibility

7 for formulation and implementation of a comprehensive

8 program for eradicating or minimizing sea lamprey popu9 lations in the Great Lakes Basin. The Secretary of the

10 Army may, upon request of the Great Lakes Fishery Com11 mission, construct and improve water resources projects

12 related to sea lamprey management that improve the qual13 ity of the environment in the public trust, at any location

14 within the Great Lakes or their tributaries or connecting

15 waters.

16 ‘‘(c) REVIEW OF PROPOSALS.—

17 ‘‘(1) ESTABLISHMENT OF COMMITTEE.—There

18 is established the Great Lakes Fish and Wildlife

19 Restoration Proposal Review Committee.

20 ‘‘(2) MEMBERSHIP AND APPOINTMENT.—The

21 Committee shall operate under the auspices of the

22 Council of Lake Committees, and consist of rep23 resentatives of all State Directors and federally rec24 ognized Indian Tribes with Great Lakes fish and

25 wildlife management authority in the Basin. State
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1 Directors and Tribal Chairs shall appoint their rep2 resentatives, who shall serve at the pleasure of the

3 appointing authority. The Great Lakes Coordinator

4 of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service shall

5 participate as an observer of the Committee.

6 ‘‘(3) FUNCTIONS.—The Committee shall annu7 ally review proposals developed under the process es8 tablished by subsection (b) to assess their effective9 ness and appropriateness in fulfilling the purposes of

10 this title and recommend to the Director priorities

11 for implementing the proposals.

12 ‘‘(d) IMPLEMENTATION OF PROPOSALS.—Consider13 ing the Committee’s recommendations and the goals stat14 ed in section 1006, the Secretary shall select proposals to

15 be implemented and, within available appropriations, shall

16 fund their implementation.

17 ‘‘(e) COST-SHARING.—

18 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Director shall require

19 that 25 percent of the cost of implementing any pro20 posal selected under subsection (d), other than those

21 involving the establishment of sea lamprey barriers,

22 must be paid by non-Federal sources on a basis con23 sidered by the Director to be timely and appropriate.

24 ‘‘(2) IN-KIND CONTRIBUTIONS.—In addition to

25 cash outlays, the Director shall consider as financial
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1 contributions by a non-Federal source the value of

2 in-kind contributions provided for the purpose of im3 plementing a proposal. In-kind contributions may

4 consist of, but are not required to be limited to, real

5 or personal property or personal services necessary

6 to implement a proposal that are rendered by volun7 teers. The Director shall establish the standards

8 under which the value of in-kind contributions shall

9 be determined. Valuations made by the Director

10 under this paragraph are final and not subject to

11 judicial review.

12 ‘‘(3) EXCLUSION OF FEDERAL FUNDS FROM

13 NON-FEDERAL SHARE.—The Director may not con14 sider the expenditure, either directly or indirectly, of

15 Federal funds received by a State or local govern16 ment to be a contribution by a non-Federal source

17 for purposes of this section.’’.

18 SEC. 7. MAINTENANCE OF OFFICES.

19 Section 1007 (16 U.S.C. 941e) is amended—

20 (1) by amending the section heading to read as

21 follows:

22 ‘‘SEC. 1007. MAINTENANCE OF OFFICES.’’;

23 (2) in subsection (a) by striking the first sen24 tence and inserting the following: ‘‘The Director

25 shall maintain the functions of the Great Lakes Co-
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1 ordination Office in East Lansing, Michigan, for the

2 purpose of coordinating all United States Fish and

3 Wildlife Service activities in the Great Lakes

4 Basin.’’;

5 (3) by amending subsection (b) to read as fol6 lows:

7 ‘‘(b) GREAT LAKES FISHERY RESOURCES OF8 FICES.—The Director shall maintain the Upper Great

9 Lakes Fishery Resources Office and the Lower Great

10 Lakes Fishery Resources Office. The Director shall pro11 vide each of these offices the necessary administrative and

12 technical support services to carry out all United States

13 Fish and Wildlife Service operational activities related to

14 fishery resource protection, restoration, maintenance, and

15 enhancement in their respective regions.’’; and

16 (4) by striking subsection (c).

17 SEC. 8. REPORTS TO CONGRESS.

18 Section 1008 (16 U.S.C. 941f) is amended to read

19 as follows:

20 ‘‘SEC. 1008. REPORTS TO CONGRESS.

21 ‘‘The Director shall submit a report within 6 months

22 after the end of every second fiscal year to the Committee

23 on Resources of the House of Representatives and the

24 Committee on Environment and Public Works of the Sen-
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1 ate. The first such biennial report shall be submitted by

2 April 1, 1998. Each such report shall describe—

3 ‘‘(1) actions taken to implement the process es4 tablished by section 1005;

5 ‘‘(2) the results of proposals implemented under

6 section 1005; and

7 ‘‘(3) activities undertaken and progress toward

8 the accomplishment of the goals stated in section

9 1006.’’.

10 SEC. 9. AUTHORIZATIONS OF APPROPRIATIONS.

11 Section 1009 (16 U.S.C. 941g) is amended to read

12 as follows:

13 ‘‘SEC. 1009. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

14 ‘‘There are authorized to be appropriated to the Di15 rector—

16 ‘‘(1) for the operation of the Great Lakes Co17 ordination Office, the Upper Great Lakes Fishery

18 Resources Office, and the Lower Great Lakes Fish19 ery Resources Office under section 1007, $1,500,000

20 for each of fiscal years 1998 through 2002; and

21 ‘‘(2) for implementation of fish and wildlife res22 toration proposals under section 1005(c),

23 $3,500,000 for each of fiscal years 1996 through

24 2002.’’.
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1 SEC. 10. TECHNICAL CORRECTION.

2 Title II of Public Law 101–646 (104 Stat. 4773) is

3 repealed.

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