times the present flow at Salem, Oreg. This improvement in abatement of pollution of the river will greatly enhance the survival of migrating salmon and steelhead fingerlings and should tend to increase the number of resident game fish. Operation under Oil Pollution Act.-Two complaints were received by this office in 1947 from lower Columbia River ports and several from lower Willamette River in connection with operation under the Oil Pollution Act of June 7, 1924. These complaints were investigated, the harbor patrols were notified, and the offending vessels were warned to desist if they were still in port. No complaints were received in 1947 under other acts which affect conservation interests relating to wildlife or oyster cultivation. Suggestions for greater cooperation with fish and wildlife interests.-During 1947 the Portland district has been obtaining better cooperation and coordination of planning with fish and wildlife and other conservation interests than heretofore. This is largely due to many meetings and conferences and close personal contacts between engineers of this office and representatives of the various conservation agencies. It is believed that cooperation and coordination of planning can be obtained in the future by continuance of similar meetings, conferences, and personal contacts, particularly during preliminary stages of planning. Complaints by fish and wildlife interests.-Minor agitation has developed, especially among the commercial fishing interests for the transfer of the control of operation of the Bonneville Dam fish facilities to the Fish and Wildlife Service. Since the fish ladders, fingerling bypasses, and other fish facilities are integral parts of the dam and play a part in its operation, the transfer of such control to outside interests would be inadvisable. The only known major controversy at the present time in the Portland district between Federal and State agencies involves the design of hatcheries and holding ponds. Some minor differences of opinion and recommendations have occurred between this office and fishery interests. In some instances fishery agencies have made recommendations, which are difficult to comply with, in connection with navigation-improvement projects. In one project it was recommended that a dragline dredge be used instead of a hydraulic suction dredge to provide the desired channel excavation. The work in this case does not lend itself to other than an hydraulic dredge as the waste material has to be transported a considerable distance. In other instances specific periods or seasons have been recommended in which to do specific work. These recommendations are followed insofar as it is feasible, but sometimes climate conditions, flood flows, and other conditions preclude compliance with the recommendations. In each case, fishery interests have been informed of the action to be taken and every effort is made to protect fish and wildlife during such operations. San Francisco district In the San Francisco district, Corps of Engineers, there are no existing reservoirs or canalization systems under the jurisdiction of the Department of the Army. Moreover, there are no canalization systems being contemplated at the present time which would have an important relation to the conservation of wildlife. However, in the surveys of Russian River and Eel River, Calif., for flood control and allied purposes, consideration is being given to reservoirs which, if constructed, would have important effects on fish, wildlife, and recreation. The plan of improvement for Russian River includes two reservoirs, one on the East Fork of Russian River at Coyote Valley; the other on Dry Creek, a principal tributary of Russian River. Funds have been made available by the San Francisco district, Corps of Engineers, to the regional office of the Fish and Wildlife Service to permit the necessary fish and wildlife studies to be made in connection with the planning of the reservoirs. The Service has in preparation a preliminary evaluation report on the proposed plan of improvement for Russian River. Funds have also been made available to the Fish and Wildlife Service for studies on the Eel River. A number of reservoirs are under consideration in the Eel River Basin, but plans are still in a preliminary status. During 1947 many conferences were held with representatives of the Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Park Service in connection with plans being considered for the Russian and Eel Rivers. Discussions were also held with representatives of the California State Division of Fish and Game in connection with the Eel River plans. It is believed that frequent consultations between field representatives of the Corps of Engineers and wildlife interests aid greatly in promoting understanding and cooperation in planning of projects. With regard to oil pollution, the Coast Guard has done policing for the Corps of Engineers on San Francisco Bay. To supplement the efforts of the Coast Guard, the San Francisco district engineer has acquainted civilian personnel of his office with the provisions of the Oil Pollution Act and instructed them to report all violations. A number of cases of violation were reported to the district engineer by the Coast Guard during 1947. These reports were forwarded to the United States district attorney for prosecution where such action was appropriate. There have been no operations in the San Francisco district in connection with laws for the protection of oyster cultivation. Los Angeles district The Los Angeles district, because of the semiarid and arid region in which most of the district is located, does not have any projects that afford outstanding merits or disadvantages for fish and wildlife. Coastal and interior streams of southern California are intermittent and, with the exception of Santa Ynez River, those considered to date do not have sufficient flow to sustain fish. Santa Ynez reservoirs for flood control alone or for flood control and water conservation combined are likely to be found economically unfeasible. On The reservoirs of the Corps of Engineers on Los Angeles and San Gabriel Rivers and on Santa Ana River have very small or no permanent pools for fish and, being within or near the large metropolitan center of Los Angeles, have small possibility for the use of wildlife. The United States Fish and Wildlife Service appears to consider these basins as primarily local recreational facilities. The construction of Whittier Narrows flood-control basin on San Gabriel River may involve interference with the plans of the California State Fish and Game Commission for the location of a hatchery at the dam site. However, a satisfactory alternative location for the hatchery appears to be available close at hand. Reservoirs recommended for the lower Colorado River Basin in Arizona, namely Alamo Reservoir on Bill Williams River, Whitlow Ranch Reservoir on Queen Creek, Charleston Reservoir on San Pedro River, and Buttes Reservoir on Gila River, with the exception of Whitlow Ranch Reservoir, will provide for the propagation of warm-water fish and thus will afford considerable recreational attractions in this desert area. The United States Fish and Wildlife Service is reporting on the fish and wildlife possibilities of these proposed reservoirs. There is no indication at present that any special considerations are involved. The upper basin of the Colorado River, which also lies in the Los Angeles district, may involve more fish and wildlife problems than other parts of this district. To date only minor investigations have been carried on and no reservoir improvements have been proposed. Since compilation of the reference letter, reservoirs for flood control on Santa Ynez River, Calif., were found by this office to be economically unfeasible. However, the construction of a water-conservation reservoir at the Čachuma site has been recommended by the United States Bureau of Reclamation. This project has been considered by authorities of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service and the California Division of Fish and Game. The preparation of the survey report on Santa Margarita River, Calif. will involve investigations of several reservoir sites for multiple-purpose use, including flood control, water conservation, and recreation. Because artificially stocked reservoirs at Lake Henshaw and Hodges Lake in drainage basins just south of the Santa Margarita River Basin have become sportsmen's focal points in recent years, favorable recreational possibilities are indicated for any new reservoirs in the general area between Los Angeles and San Diego. The multiple-purpose project for flood control and navigation, San Diego River and Mission Bay, Calif., presented a wildlife problem; the California Division of Fish and Game protested the removal, by dredging, of extensive beds of rare eelgrass (Zostera marina), the principal food of the black brant, a species of goose that winters on the west coast of North America as far south as Lower California. Mission Bay is also an important wintering area for many species of wild ducks that use it as a resting and feeding area during the course of their migratory flights. The submerged aquatic vegetation and the many kinds of shellfish and aquatic insects that are used by ducks as food would be largely destroyed by dredging of the entire Mission Bay area. Therefore, the project has been designed to reserve as a game refuge a filled submerged-island area, known as La Patera in the center of the bay. The eelgrass will be transplanted to this area to provide food for the migratory birds. The Los Angeles district has cooperated with State fish and game authorities, the United States Coast Guard, and other interested Federal and local officials in a program for strict prevention of pollution of navigable waters. Violators of the law are notified, and official action is taken. This office has published a pamphlet, Oil and Refuse Pollution-Navigable Waters of the United States in Southern California, copies of which have been distributed as a preventive measure to shipping interests and other possible violators of the pollution law. This pamphlet points out the lethal effects of oil and other pollution on fish and sea fowl. Gratifying results have been obtained by rigid enforcement of the pollution laws in the traffic-heavy harbor areas of southern California. The State of California provided for the protection of commercial oyster cultivation by a statute approved March 30, 1874, and entitled "An Act to encourage the planting and cultivation of oysters." Section 419 of title 33, United States Code, also provides for the protection of waters used for the cultivation of oysters. During World War II the harbor project at Morro Bay, Calif., required channel dredging and filling with dredged material in an area authorized for oyster cultivation. Representatives of the Morro Bay Oyster Co. registered a protest and complained that channel dredging was destroying old oyster beds and that seepage of dredged fill material through a rock levee was burying oysters. An investigation by personnel from this office indicated that the oyster area referred to was an abandoned bed, that the Morro Bay Oyster Co. was concerned mostly about active oyster beds up-bay from the dredging, and that the company requested caution and consideration in possible extension of the project. Because the channel and fill have reached the up-bay limit of the project, possible disturbance of active beds is precluded. However, the operators of the dredge, the service plant, and the Navy operating craft were made aware of the existence of the oyster beds and were cautioned to limit to the periods of outgoing tide all pumping of bilges that might contain oil and to refrain from any action that might disturb the oyster cultivation. The Morro Bay Oyster Co. and the California Fish and Game Commission officials appeared to be convinced that the extreme caution exercised by the construction and operating personnel has resulted in the harbor project not disturbing the oyster cultivation. Senator ROBERTSON. That ends the hearings for this morning. We will continue at 10 a. m. tomorrow. (Whereupon, at 12 noon, the subcommittee adjourned, to reconvene at 10 a. m., Wednesday, April 28, 1948.) FEDERAL WILDLIFE CONSERVATION ACTIVITIES, 1947 WEDNESDAY, APRIL 28, 1948 UNITED STATES SENATE, COMMITTEE ON EXPENDITURES IN THE EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS, SUBCOMMITTEE TO INVESTIGATE WILDLIFE CONSERVATION, Washington, D. C. The subcommittee met, pursuant to adjournment, at 10 a. m., in room 357, Senate Office Building, Senator Homer Ferguson (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding. Present: Senators Ferguson (presiding) and Robertson. Mr. J. Hammond Brown, of the Baltimore News-Post, Baltimore, Md., testifying as secretary of the American Waterfowl Committee, will give us his opinion of the problem now before the committee. STATEMENT OF J. HAMMOND BROWN, SECRETARY, AMERICAN WATERFOWL COMMITTEE Mr. BROWN. Mr. Chairman, I am not appearing as the president of the Outdoor Writers Association of America or on behalf of that organization at this hearing, but as secretary of the American Waterfowl Committee. Mr. Nash Buckingham, who is chairman of our Outdoor Writers Association of America waterfowl committee will speak for the Outdoor Writers Association of America. The reason I appear before you for the American Waterfowl Committee is this: Ordinarily, all the discussions undertaken by that committee, which is an unofficial advisory board to the Fish and Wildlife Service on waterfowl in the United States, are off the record generally, but every once in a while they do, by unanimous consent, adopt a resolution which they want distributed and did make one down in St. Louis during the American Wildlife Conference impinging on one section of the bill you have under consideration; that is, the increase of the duck stamp and insofar as you want to set aside the use of some of those funds in Canada and Mexico. That resolution reads as follows: This group favors the use by the Government of the United States of its favorable position in connection with the granting of loans or other financial assistance to the Republic of Mexico and Central American countries, to seek desirable and necessary protection of migratory waterfowl. That is what you might call putting on the pressure. Anyway, the idea was, if we are going to ship money into Canada and into Mexico, especially with regard to Mexico, we should make them behave themselves. In other words, we should not give them any money |