STREAM CHANNELIZATION (PART 3) HEARINGS BEFORE A SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE S. Congress Nocial. COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS, Consewate HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES NINETY-SECOND CONGRESS FIRST SESSION and Naturs JUNE 9 AND 10, 1971 Printed for the use of the Committee on Government Operations 62-365 O U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE WASHINGTON: 1971 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office KFRT B636 636 COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS JACK BROOKS, Texas CHET HOLIFIELD, California, Chairman L. H. FOUNTAIN, North Carolina BENJAMIN S. ROSENTHAL, New York FERNAND J. ST GERMAIN, Rhode Island FLOYD V. HICKS, Washington JOHN CONYERS, JR., Michigan FLORENCE P. DWYER, New Jersey PAUL N. MCCLOSKEY, JR., California GARRY BROWN, Michigan BARRY M. GOLDWATER, JR., California J. KENNETH ROBINSON, Virginia WALTER E. POWELL, Ohio CHARLES THONE, Nebraska HERBERT ROBACK, Staff Director MILES Q. ROMNEY, Associate General Counsel WILLIAM H. COPENHAVER, Minority Professional Staff CONSERVATION AND NATURAL RESOURCES SUBCOMMITTEE HENRY S. REUSS, Wisconsin, Chairman Hanten, Robert, South Dakota Department of Game, Fish, and Parks. Huenefeld, Fred, Jr., president, Louisiana Soil and Water Conserva- Warvel, Harold, assistant director, Tennessee Game and Fish Com- mission 1284 Yancey, Richard K., assistant director, Louisiana Wildlife and Fish- 1274 Letters, statements, etc., submitted for the record by- Photographs Nos. 1-9 demonstrating certain effects to the en- 1377 1307-1315 Subjects of possible investigation relative to the Watershed Pro- tection and Flood Protection Act (Public Law 83-566) . Frost, S. L., deputy director for water, Ohio Department of Natural 1370 Jantzen, Robert A., director of the Arizona Game and Fish Depart- IV Letters, statements, etc., submitted for the record by-Continued Murphy, Dean A., superintendent of game management, Missouri Turcotte, W. H., chief of Game and Fisheries Division, Mississippi Page 1297 1349-1353 Warvel, Harold, assistant director, Tennessee Game and Fish Com- Channeled stream in Crow Creek watershed project, Alabama, 1290 1290 Unchanneled stream in Crow Creek watershed project, Tennessee, 1289 Yancey, Richard K., assistant director, Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission, statement___ 1279 APPENDIXES (Appendixes 1-9 appear in part 1 of these hearings) (Appendixes 10-13 appear in part 2 of these hearings) Appendix 14.-Communications from State agencies.. 1385 Appendix 15.- Watershed projects involving channelization work-approved and pending. 1621 Appendix 16.-Additional communications relating to stream channelization_.. 1799 Appendix 17.-Correspondence relating to the Alcovy channelization project, Georgia____ 1903 Appendix 18.-Statements of the Water Resources Council_ 1937 Appendix 19.-U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Circular 39: "Wetlands of the United States," 1956. 1987 Appendix 20.-Stream channelization: 1971 amendment to Agriculture 2059 STREAM CHANNELIZATION (Part 3) WEDNESDAY, JUNE 9, 1971 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, CONSERVATION AND NATURAL RESOURCES SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS, Washington, D.C. The subcommittee met, at 10 a.m., in room 2247, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Henry S. Reuss (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding. Present: Representatives Henry S. Reuss, Gilbert Gude, Paul N. McCloskey, Jr., Sam Steiger, and John E. Moss. Staff members present: Phineas Indritz, chief counsel; David B. Finnegan, assistant counsel; Michael B. Gross, legal assistant; and J. P. Carlson, minority counsel, Committee on Government Operations. Mr. REUSS. The subcommittee will come to order. Today we resume hearings concerning the dredging, modification, and channelization of waterways conducted or financed by the Soil Conservation Service, Corps of Engineers, Bureau of Reclamation, and other Federal agencies. Last week Assistant Secretary of the Interior Nathaniel Reed testified that "a complete review of all river and stream channelization projects should be initiated." In connection with this review, the Assistant Secretary said that he "would support" a moratorium on stream channelization projects of the Soil Conservation Service while such a study was going on, "because," he said, "it would give us all time to come up with a reflective policy and not substantially damage any projects contemplated." Mr. Reed testified that the facts show that extensive channelization is not sound. Earlier, a dozen national conservation organizations, which testified before our subcommittee, all recommended that the stream channelization programs of the Department of Agriculture be halted until they have been reviewed and their effects on the environment reevaluated. The Executive Director of the Water Resources Council, Mr. W. Don Maughan, told us last week that channelization "is such a controversial issue" that "a study should be made" and that his agency had the expertise to do such a study. He also told us that the Council staff had recommended a 2-year moratorium on channelization projects with some limited exceptions. Although the Department of Agriculture is a member of the Council, its agency, the Soil Conservation Service, testified against such a moratorium. |