An amount of $150,000 and eight permanent positions are needed for the initiation of a new activity, "Pesticides registration." This amount will implement the recommendations in the report, "Use of Pesticides," of the President's Science Advisory Committee. The Secretaries of Agriculture, Interior, and Health, Education, and Welfare signed a formal agreement for the interdepartmental coordination of activities relating to pesticides. The Bureau's responsibility under the agreement, is to review the pesticide applications presented for registration to determine the toxicities and potential hazards of such pesticide chemicals to different species of fish and wildlife and recommend to the Agricultural Research Service and Food and Drug Administration such limitations in the registration procedure as are deemed necessary to prevent injury to fish and wildlife resources. REPLACEMENT OF OIL REVENUES Mr. KIRWAN. $900,000 of this request is to replace the loss of oil revenues used for the financing of the administration of wildlife resources. Please explain why these oil revenues will not be available for the current year as originally planned. Mr. PARKER. The revenues that have been accrued from this particular refuge are tied up in litigation now. There was a stipulation in the original deed that indicated up to the end of the 10-year period the landowner would have the opportunity to enjoy the oil rights if he had done any work. Mr. KIRWAN. Explain briefly the items that would be financed with this $900,000. Mr. PARKER. This is a part of the refuge management program and it will include work we normally do, the maintenance of dikes, the planting of food crops, and so on. PESTICIDES REGISTRATION Mr. KIRWAN. The balance of the request, $150,000, is to initiate a new activity, "Pesticides registration." Explain what this activity will consist of and why it is urgent. Mr. PARKER. This is a small staff that will review the applications for pesticides that the Agriculture Department receives. We assist them in reviewing these applications, the content of the label, to determine what the effect will be on fish and wildlife and we make a recommendation to Agriculture. Mr. KIRWAN. How many referrals from the Department of Agriculture of these applications for label registration of chemicals do you expect to receive during the current fiscal year? Mr. PARKER. This will run between 400 and 500 applications and renewals for applications a week. There will be in the neighborhood of 50 to 60 new chemicals. Mr. KIRWAN. To what extent is your Bureau now performing this function? Mr. PARKER. We are just now laying the groundwork to do this. We have not gotten into the operation. Mr. KIRWAN. What work will be performed by the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare concerning the registration of pesticides in this regard? Mr. PARKER. The Department of Agriculture has the main responsibility and they will make the final determination as to whether the chemicals should be registered or not. We will be supplying information to help them in their judgment. The same arrangement will apply in the application of tolerances by the Food and Drug Administration. Mr. KIRWAN. This estimate provides for eight new permanent positions. Why can't this extra work be absorbed by existing staff? Mr. PARKER. This requires a staff of rather highly trained technicians, people who are unusual and hard to find, particularly in the pesticide field. We are hoping to get these people, but they are extremely difficult to find. Mr. KIRWAN. The regular bill carried $2,063,000 for pesticide research. Why can't some of these funds be utilized for this new activity? Mr. PARKER. Well, we would view this not as research but as a service function we are rendering in connection with the registration. Any funds we use in our pesticide registration program will decrease our current research program by the amount that would be used in this particular program. BULLS ISLAND, S.C. Mr. KIRWAN. We have had a request for $125,000 to repair facilities damaged and destroyed by high winds and low tide at the Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge near Charleston, S.C. Please describe this damage and tell us what would be involved in the repair or replacement of the facilities. Mr. PARKE". On November 29, 1963, there were extremely high winds and a low tide on Bulls Island and water rushed out and wind Iwith it that inundated and completely broke the dock. We would propose to rebuild the dock, a boat shelter for refuge and concessionaire's boats, and mooring facilities. Presently we are using a floating dock which makes it difficult for the public to come on board. (The following statement was submitted for the record :) BUREAU OF SPORT FISHERIES AND WILDLIFE CAPE ROMAIN NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE On November 29, 1963, a combination of high winds and an extremely low tide resulted in a landslide of mud in Wharf Creek at Bulls Island, Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge, located near Charleston, S.C. This mudslide caused $125,000 in damaged facilities and destroyed the landing dock and mooring facilities at Bulls Island. Bulls Island is one of the most unique areas in the national wildlife refuge system. In addition to providing a wintering site for thousands of waterfowl, it possesses a rare combination of flora and fauna. The island, though accessible only by boat, is visited annually by hundreds of people, many of whom travel great distances, primarily for bird study and wildlife photography. Overnight accommodations are provided on the island by the Bureau through a concessionaire. To take care of the many visitors, to facilitate handling of supplies and materials which are brought to the island by boats and barges for refuge and concession operation and to provide for safe mooring of floating equipment, adequate docking facilities are essential. Since the freak mudslide occurred, refuge personnel and visitors have had to get by with only a small temporary floating dock. This provides, at best, an inconvenient and hazardous facility. The fluctuation of water levels, due to normal tides, adds to the hazard. There is also no longer any protected mooring facility for boats during frequent storms which occur in this area. One hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars will permit construction of a dock which will be accessible at all tides, a boat shelter for refuge and concessionaire's boats, and mooring facilities for the refuge LCM which is used for equipment transport. Mr. KIRWAN. I can see the damage from the picture. Mr. KIRWAN. $700,000 is requested to repair damage caused by flash floods and excessive rainfall to 11 wildlife refuges this year. We will insert the item from the House document and the justifications in the record. (The documents referred to follow :) DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE BUREAU OF SPORT FISHERIES AND WILDLIFE CONSTRUCTION "For an additional amount for 'Construction', $700,000." Flash floods and excessive rainfall have caused $905,000 damage to 13 wildlife refuges this year. This proposed supplemental appropriation will finance rehabilitation work which must be completed this year to avoid further damage and resulting increased repair costs. An amount of $700,000 is requested for rehabilitation of facilities at 11 wildlife refuges which were damaged by flash floods and excessive rainfall in the spring of 1964, and the recent record flood in the Missouri River Basin. JUSTIFICATION 2. Wildlife facilities, $700,000 (a) Wildlife refuges, $700,000.-This supplemental estimate is being submitted for rehabilitation of facilities at 11 national wildlife refuges which were damaged by flash floods and excessive rainfall in the spring of 1964, and the recent record flood in the Missouri River Basin which is now known as the 100-Year Flood. Facilities damaged include dikes, levees, fences, roads, bridges, buildings, and crop and haylands. Repair of these facilities is essential to prevent the impairment of operations and to restore valuable habitat for nesting, feeding, and wintering of an important segment of the migratory waterfowl population as well as grouse, doves, antelope, deer, etc. The present state of the facilities is such that prompt repair is essential to prevent further damage. Increased costs will also result even from normal rainfall. 1965 appropriations are not sufficient to cover these costs without an adverse effect on the program. The damage by refuge covered by this estimate is as follows: Refuge Wheeler, Ala___ Wapanocca, Ark.. Modoc, Calif.. St. Marks, Fla---- Piedmont, Ga---- Savannah, Ga---- Agassiz, Minn_. Amount $15,000 100,000 11,000 69,000 10, 000 50,000 15,000 |