ENDANGERED SPECIES COALITION
P.O. Box 65195
Washington, D.C., 20035
www.stopextinction.org

Committee on Natural Resources, US House of Representatives
1324 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515

April 29, 2009

Re: H.R. 980, The Northern Rockies Ecosystem Act (NREA)

Dear Representative Rahall and Representative Grijalva:

The Endangered Species Coalition., representing nearly 400 groups across the Nation, is happy to have the opportunity to offer its wholehearted support for H.R. 980, and to urge its passage by the Committee at the earliest possible date. We request that our statement be made part of the official record of the hearings on this subject.

Because the aim and purpose of the ESC and our member organizations is to achieve the maximum possible protection for imperiled species and their habitats, we could hardly imagine any other legislative enactment in recent times which would do more to advance our nation's commitment to those imperiled plants and animals - a permanent commitment first enunciated by the Endangered Species Act of 1973.

Indeed, because of its vast scope and reach, and its emphasis on science as the basis for its protections, NREA is a truly visionary statement of the highest order. If it becomes law, its vision and its specific provisions will likely become the marker, and benchmark, for all future conservation laws. NREA shows us the pathway to achieve a truly healthy and productive public lands estate which can benefit all Americans, far into the future.

If enacted, NREA would add over 20 million acres of federal lands in the Northern Rockies to the nation's National Wilderness Preservation System, thus immediately extending the highest possible protections to such increasingly rare endangered animals as the grizzly bear, northern grey wolf, bull trout, and hundreds of others. Given that our nation's remaining splendid heritage of public lands is so often a 'last stand' for too many such plants and animals, NREA would ensure their continued survival, forever.

Another enormous benefit to wildlife in NREA is its provision requiring restoration to ecological health of additional millions of acres in the same region, now heavily damaged by years of resource over-extraction and indiscriminate use of recreational vehicles. Since many of these places are located in the heart of the all-important connecting 'biological corridors' that all species must have to find food, shelter, and reproduce, again it is difficult to imagine a bill more consonant with our growing scientific knowledge of the true requirements needed to sustain a truly functioning ecosystem.

These facts about NREA, standing alone, are more than sufficient reason for the ESC to urge prompt passage by this Committee. But there is another reason, perhaps the most compelling and important of all. That reason, already noted above, is because of its grand vision: a vision of a different, and much more sustainable, future for our nation's public lands.

NREA is much more than a land protection statute. Science-based and comprehensive enough in its scope to truly maintain and protect our public lands heritage far into the future, if enacted it would become one America's greatest conservation statutes - right up there with the Parks Organic Act, the Wilderness Act, the Endangered Species Act, and the Alaska National Interest Lands Act.

We urge its speedy enactment. Thank you.

Brock Evans
President
Endangered Species Coalition