DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR AND RELATED HEARINGS BEFORE A SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE M.S. Congress. Hous COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS. NINETY-SECOND CONGRESS FIRST SESSION SUBCOMMITTEE ON DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR AND JULIA BUTLER HANSEN, Washington, Chairman COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS GEORGE H. MAHON, Texas, Chairman JAMIE L. WHITTEN, Mississippi EDWARD P. BOLAND, Massachusetts GEORGE E. SHIPLEY, Illinois ROBERT N. GIAIMO, Connecticut EDWARD J. PATTEN, New Jersey DAVID PRYOR, Arkansas FRANK E. EVANS, Colorado DAVID R. OBEY, Wisconsin EDWARD R. ROYBAL, California WILLIAM D. HATHAWAY, Maine NICK GALIFIANAKIS, North Carolina LOUIS STOKES, Ohio J. EDWARD ROUSH, Indiana WILLIAM GERALD BOLING SAMUEL W. CROSBY GEORGE E. EVANS ROBERT B. FOSTER GERARD J. CHOUINARD PAUL V. FARMER DANIEL V. GUN SHOWS KF2M A634 1971 соруг FRANK T. BOW, Ohio DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS FOR FISCAL YEAR 1972 WEDNESDAY, MARCH 10, 1971. BUREAU OF SPORT FISHERIES AND WILDLIFE WITNESSES SPENCER H. SMITH, ACTING DIRECTOR JAMES T. McBROOM, ASSISTANT DIRECTOR SERVICES COOPERATIVE F. VICTOR SCHMIDT, ACTING ASSISTANT DIRECTOR—OPERATIONS SAMUEL BENJAMIN, ASSISTANT DIRECTOR AND ENGINEERING ADMINISTRATION A. NEAL WOODALL, ACTING CHIEF, DIVISION OF FISHERY RESEARCH THOMAS S. BASKETT, CHIEF, DIVISION OF WILDLIFE RESEARCH YATES M. BARBER, JR., STAFF ASSISTANT, ASSISTANT DIRECTOR— RESEARCH FRANCIS M. WILES, DIRECTOR OF BUDGET, INTERIOR DEPARTMENT DONALD J. HANKLA, CHIEF, BRANCH OF RESOURCES MANAGEMENT, WILDLIFE REFUGES Mrs. HANSEN. We have the privilege of welcoming today Mr. Spencer H. Smith, the Acting Director of the Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife. I think it would not be inappropriate for the committee to tell you how much we miss your former associate, the very beloved Abe Tunison. We are sorry he will not be with us any more. Mr. SMITH. We share this feeling with you, Madam Chairman. I had this in the first part of my statement. I wanted to pay special tribute to Mr. Tunison. He helped to build the Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife. I might add for the record, Madam Chairman, we are in the process of finalizing plans to dedicate the new fishery laboratory at Cortland as the Tunison Laboratory. Mrs. HANSEN. We also will miss Mr. Gottschalk, who decided to join the NOAA. Mr. SMITH. I am sure Mr. Gottschalk will do well in the new assignment he has undertaken, Madam Chairman. Mrs. HANSEN. Mr. Smith, please insert your biography in the record. (The document follows:) (1) pt.z BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF SPENCER H. SMITH, ACTING DIRECTOR, BUREAU OF SPORT FISHERIES AND WILDLIFE Date of Designation: December 4, 1970. Mr. Smith was born in Liberty, Tex., in 1923 and attended high school in Daisetta, Tex. He served in the U.S. Navy, Medical Corps, for approximately 5 years, and upon discharge entered Oregon State University where he was awarded a B.S. degree in fishery biology. He began his professional career as an aquatic biologist in 1948 with the Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife in Atlanta, Ga. In July 1949, he left the Federal Service to accept the position of chief, fisheries division, with the Mississippi Game and Fish Commission in Jackson, Miss., where he served until November 1955 when he returned to the Bureau as a fishery research biologist at the Vicksburg, Miss., River Basin Studies Office. In August 1957, Mr. Smith was appointed assistant regional supervisor, river basin studies in the Bureau's Atlanta Regional Office and in 1960 was promoted to the position of regional supervisor in this program area. In 1967, Mr. Smith was appointed Assistant Regional Director-Operations, southeast region, where he served until his appointment in October 1968 as Assistant Director-Cooperative Services, Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife, Washington, D.C. Mr. Smith has a record of exceptional performance in the Bureau and on five occasions, since 1961, has received awards for outstanding service. Following his tenure as Assistant Director for Cooperative Services, he was appointed Special Assistant to the Bureau Director. During 1969, he served as Special Assistant to the Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife, Parks and Marine Resources and returned to the Bureau December 4, 1970, designated as Acting Director. GENERAL STATEMENT Mrs. HANSEN. Please insert your general statement in the record and summarize it for us. Mr. SMITH. I will place my statement in the record and make a few brief comments concerning it. Mrs. HANSEN. Please do. (The statement follows:) Statement of Spencer H. Smith, Acting Director, Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife, U. S. Department of the Interior, before the House Subcommittee on Appropriations for the Department of the Interior and Related Agencies. Madam Chairman. Our usual pleasure in meeting with the Committee is dimmed, to a degree, this year by the recent death of Mr. Abram Tunison. I would like to take a moment to pay tribute to this man and his spirit of self-less dedication which continues to exist in the organization that he helped build and will influence the conservation movement in the future. The Bureau is in a period of marked change. There is a transition in leadership, but more important is the significant transformation of the citizens' attitude toward this Nation's natural environment and intrinsic value of fish and wildlife. In a short few years, we have observed the public concern coalesce from a rather dispersed and vague effort to a widely supported and well directed action. Instances of over-reaction normally associated with public expression have and will continue to occur. Nothwithstanding, emotions are subsiding and a calmer assessment of priorities and marshalling of resources has begun. Foremost of these moves has been the establishment of the Environmental Protection Agency. We do not view this new agency as a monolithic competitor so devoted to providing pure drinking water and clean air for human beings that the importance of wholesome fish and wildlife habitats will become obscured. We regard the programs as mutually supporting and the new agency as a strong partner upon whom we can rely in the execution of our mission. We Technically, the reorganization affected our Bureau very little. transferred to the Environmental Protection Agency an annual budget of $170,000 and seven positions concerned with reviewing instructions for use of pesticides. Also transferred were the authorities vested in the Secretary of the Interior to conduct pesticides research by the act of August 1, 1958. However, the Bureau possessed authority to engage in research on the effects of pesticides on fish and wildlife in prior legislation. The purpose of the 1958 legislation, as we understand it, was to highlight and emphasize this authority so that the funding level would be raised. In summary, we believe the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency, coupled with environmental impact statements generated by the Environmental Policy Act of 1969, will generate a greater demand for assurance as to the status and well-being of the fish and wildlife resources than ever before in the Nation's history. |