Testimony of the Upper Mississippi River Basin Association

Submitted to the

House Committee on Appropriations

Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies

FY 2008 Appropriations for the U.S. Department of the Interior,

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and U.S. Geological Survey

March 30, 2007

The Upper Mississippi River Basin Association (UMRBA) is the organization created in 1981 by the Governors of Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, and Wisconsin to serve as a forum for coordinating the five states’ river-related programs and policies and for collaborating with federal agencies on regional water resource issues. As such, the UMRBA has an interest in the budget for both the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Geological Survey.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has important responsibilities in the Upper Mississippi River Basin, including management of federal refuge lands and coordination with other federal, state, and local agencies on river-related ecological issues. The UMRBA strongly supports funding necessary to enable the Fish and Wildlife Service to fulfill its responsibilities in the Upper Mississippi River Basin.

National Wildlife Refuge System — The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service administers over 284,000 acres of land and water scattered along the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers from the most northerly unit near Wabasha, Minnesota to the most southerly unit near Gape Girardeau, Missouri. This includes the Upper Mississippi River, Mark Twain, and Illinois River Complexes. The existence of this extensive national refuge system is, in part, the reason that, in 1986, Congress designated the Upper Mississippi River System as a “nationally significant ecosystem and a nationally significant commercial navigation system.”

The UMRBA strongly supports increased funding for the National Wildlife Refuge System. The President has proposed a modest increase in refuge funding for FY 08, which would bring the refuge budget to $394.8 million. However, this is not sufficient to address the long term impacts of underfunding the nation’s refuges, which have suffered significant losses in real dollar terms during recent years. As an example, in FY 07, spending for the refuges along the Upper Mississippi and Illinois Rivers will likely total $8.03 million. Considering the land base managed by the Service on the Upper Mississippi River, this equates to a very modest $28 per acre. As a result, there continues to be a backlog in routine maintenance and a growing personnel shortage to address law enforcement, biological needs, floodplain forest management, technical assistance to private landowners, environmental education, and other refuge management needs. In particular, the refuges along the Upper Mississippi River System have responsibility for the operation and maintenance (O&M) of projects that the Corps of Engineers constructs on those refuges, under the authority of the Environmental Management Program (EMP), one of six national priority construction programs in the President’s Corps of Engineers budget. Currently, the Service’s annual O&M costs for EMP projects are running between $300,000 and $500,000, and its O&M liability for these national priority projects will only increase in the future. Fully funding the O&M of EMP projects is vital to ensuring that these habitat restoration and enhancement projects are fully operational and provide lasting environmental and public use benefits.

Land Acquisition — The President’s FY 07 budget includes just $18.0 million for land acquisition, less than half of the FY 05 level. The Administration is targeting $5.5 million of its modest FY 08 proposal to the Upper Klamath (OR) and National Key Deer (FL) refuges. Meanwhile, the three Upper Mississippi River System refuge complexes alone need $8 million annually in acquisition funds to meet objectives established in the refuges’ Comprehensive Conservation Plans. Acquisitions would be within the authorized refuge boundaries and exclusively from willing sellers. The acquisitions would address significant ecological needs on the refuges and, in many instances, also reduce potential flood-related economic losses. But, with $8 million representing almost 45 percent of the President’s annual request for the entire country, it will be difficult to make progress on these UMRS acquisition opportunities, many of which could be lost if delays force landowners to make other decisions regarding their property. The UMRBA encourages Congress to fund land acquisition at a level that permits the Service to address such acquisition priorities.

Ecological Services — Funding from the Ecological Services account supports field offices in Rock Island (IL), the Twin Cities (MN), and Marion (IL), which provide most of the ecological services work on the Upper Mississippi River and its tributaries. This includes work on threatened and endangered species, environmental contaminants, habitat conservation, and Partners for Fish and Wildlife. In FY 07, work being done by these Ecological Services field offices related to the Upper Mississippi River is estimated to be $715,000. While the Administration is proposing a modest increase for Ecological Services in FY 08 that would bring the account to $255.3 million, this would still be below the FY 06 enacted level of $257.6 million. A similar pattern holds true for the Habitat Conservation sub-account, which funds much of the critical work on the UMR — i.e., the President is requesting $97.7 million in FY 08, below the $98.4 million FY 06 enacted level, even before accounting for inflation. The ability of the Ecological Services offices to fully participate in a wide variety of interagency restoration programs on the Upper Mississippi is critical to balanced management of this nationally significant river system and must be supported from within the Service’s own budgetary resources. Thus, the UMRBA asks that, at minimum, funding for Habitat Conservation be maintained at FY 06 levels.

Fisheries — Most of the Service’s fish management on the Upper Mississippi River is conducted out of the La Crosse (WI), Columbia (MO), and Carterville (IL) Fisheries Resource Offices (FROs). These offices assess interjurisdictional fish (paddlefish and shovelnose sturgeon) and threatened and endangered species (pallid sturgeon and freshwater mussels), help combat aquatic nuisance species (e.g., Asian carp), and restore fish habitat. Their combined FY 07 efforts on the UMR are estimated at $1.2 million. The UMRBA supports this important work and is thus pleased to see the President’s FY 08 budget includes $53.6 million for Aquatic Habitat and Species Conservation and $5.4 million for Aquatic Invasive Species, both of which would represent increases relative to FY 07 enacted levels. The precise magnitude of these increases is somewhat difficult to determine, given that the President is proposing to restructure the Fisheries account in FY 08, creating three new sub-accounts that would largely replace the current Fish and Wildlife Management Assistance account. Nevertheless, the UMRBA supports funding for these programs at the President’s budget amount, at minimum, for FY 08.

Also as part of restructuring the Fisheries account, the Administration would create new National Fish Hatchery System Operations and Maintenance and Equipment sub-accounts, which would largely consist of the current Hatchery O&M sub-account. Again, direct comparisons across fiscal years are difficult due to these proposed structural changes. But it appears the President is proposing modest increases in both sub-accounts, which the UMRBA would fully support. These sub-accounts support the work of the Genoa (WI) National Fish Hatchery and the La Crosse (WI) Fish Health Center. The Genoa Hatchery, established in 1932 on the banks of the Mississippi River, has become a center of excellence in the recovery of endangered mussels. It cultures endangered Higgins eye pearly mussels and rears 20 species of fish, including lake sturgeon, that are stocked into the Mississippi River near Missouri. The Genoa facility has teamed with state partners on mussel restoration work that has helped avert significant controversies on the Upper Mississippi. Its FY 07 activities on the Upper Mississippi River are estimated at $740,000. The La Crosse Fish Health Center provides critical diagnostics for diseases such as largemouth bass virus and spring viremia of carp. The Health Center’s invaluable expertise is unique within the country. The Health Center’s UMR-specific work is estimated at $602,000 for FY 07.

U.S. Geological Survey

UMRBA is pleased that the President’s FY 08 budget for the U.S. Geological Survey requests increases of over $8 million for both Water Resources Investigations and Biological Research. The states of the Upper Mississippi River Basin rely upon the USGS’s ability to provide timely and unbiased scientific information about complex natural systems and thus support adequate funding for USGS research and monitoring programs.

National Streamflow Information Program — The UMRBA strongly supports the President’s proposed 13 percent increase in FY 08 for the National Streamflow Information Program (NSIP). The streamgaging network is essential to protecting public health and safety by forecasting floods and droughts, managing the nation’s navigation system, and monitoring water quality. In 1998, Congressional concern about streamgaging led the USGS to create NSIP. Unlike the Cooperative Water Program (which is funded in large part by non-federal Cooperators), Congress determined that NSIP should be funded entirely with federal appropriations. In November 2004, the National Research Council’s Committee on Water Resources Research completed its assessment of the USGS plans for NSIP: “Overall, the Committee concludes that the National Streamflow Information Program is a sound, well-conceived program that meets the nation’s needs for streamflow measurement, interpretation, and information delivery.”

Of the 4782 gages proposed for inclusion in NSIP nationwide, 521 are in the five UMRBA states. However, only about 70 percent of the NSIP gages in the UMRBA states are currently in operation. Nearly 80 NSIP gages are inactive, due to past funding shortfalls, and another 80 are proposed new gages that have not yet been funded. To enhance the long term stability and security of the nation’s streamgaging network, UMRBA joins with water resource managers across the nation in asking that Congress provide $34 million for NSIP in FY 08.

Cooperative Water Program — The UMRBA also strongly supports increased funding for the Cooperative Water Program (CWP). CWP is an essential tool in meeting state and local water science needs, including both interpretive studies and streamgaging. For most of its 110 years, the CWP was a 50:50 cost-shared program between USGS and non-federal cooperators. More recently, increased requests by cooperators for USGS services, coupled with stagnant federal funding, have altered that proportion. USGS now pays only 33 percent of the program costs. USGS funding for the CWP would need to almost double in order for USGS to match current cooperator funding on a dollar-for-dollar basis. Of the nearly 1400 cooperators nationwide, 150 are in the five UMR basin states. This includes state agencies; cities; counties; and sanitary, lake management, stormwater, and watershed districts, all of which use CWP hydrologic data and studies to manage the water resources entrusted to their care.

The President’s FY 08 request for the CWP ($62 million) is nearly identical to the FY 07 funding level. However, that funding stability masks the fact that the budget for cooperative interpretative studies will be cut by $2.2 million to offset fixed cost increases of $2.4 million. The loss of interpretive studies further exacerbates the losses the CWP has already suffered. In the past decade, over 1100 streamgaging stations have been lost, many with over 30 years of continuous record. In Iowa, 7 gages were discontinued in just the last two years and in Missouri, 14 gages are at risk of being discontinued this year, 6 of which have over 50 years of data. Thus, UMRBA, together with other water organizations and USGS cooperators across the nation, requests that Congress provide $78 million for the CWP in order to restore real program purchasing power.

Toxic Substances Hydrology — The President’s FY 08 budget proposes $13.7 million for the Toxic Substances Hydrology program, a slight increase from FY 07. The Toxics Program, which conducts research on the behavior of toxic substances in the nation’s hydrologic environments, is particularly important to the states of the Upper Midwest. Under this program, USGS provides a range of scientific information to support management decisions related to excess nutrients in the Mississippi River Basin, hypoxia in the Gulf of Mexico, pesticide contamination, and mercury in aquatic ecosystems. In particular, USGS assesses the sources and transport of nitrogen, models nutrient flux, and conducts research on nutrient transport in both the Mississippi River and smaller streams in the basin. Given the important work underway in the USGS Toxic Substances Hydrology Program, UMRBA urges Congress to support the FY 08 funding request of $13.7 million.

National Water Quality Assessment — The UMRBA continues to support funding for the National Water Quality Assessment (NAWQA), which is slated for $64.9 million under the President’s FY 08 budget. NAWQA is designed to answer basic questions about the status and trends in the quality of our nation's ground and surface waters, assessing 50 major river basins and aquifers across the nation on a rotating basis. The Upper Mississippi River Basin includes four NAWQA study units (Upper Mississippi, Eastern Iowa, Lower Illinois, and Upper Illinois). The first three of these are in the assessment cycle that began in FY 04. The Upper Illinois assessment cycle is scheduled to begin in FY 07.

Hydrologic Networks and Analysis — The UMRBA also supports funding for the National Stream Quality Accounting Network (NASQAN) which is budgeted within the Hydrologic Networks and Analysis account. Of the 41 nationwide NASQAN monitoring stations, 3 are on the Upper Mississippi River — at Clinton, Iowa; Thebes, Illinois; and Grafton, Illinois. Among other things, data from these stations are used by the states of Illinois and Iowa for their water quality assessments under the Clean Water Act. The Hydrologic Networks and Analysis account also funds development of the “National Water Quality Monitoring Network for U.S. Coastal Waters and their Tributaries,” recommended by the Advisory Committee on Water Information. This network will build upon recommendations of the Mississippi River/Gulf of Mexico Nutrient Task Force. UMRBA thus supports the funding request of $30.7 million for Hydrologic Networks and Analysis.

Biological Research — The UMRBA supports the FY 08 budget request for USGS Biological Research, which is $181 million, a slight increase over FY 07 spending levels. USGS’s Biological Research program supports critical national research needs, as well as several specific efforts of particular interest in the Upper Mississippi River Basin. For example, the Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center (UMESC), in La Crosse, Wisconsin, is studying bird migration, native mussels, wildlife toxicology, aquaculture drugs, the effects of nutrients on fish, amphibian decline, invasive species, and vegetation response to water level management on the Upper Mississippi River. UMESC’s base funding from USGS Biological Research constitutes about 1/3 of its total budget. However, that base has declined since FY 06 by 5 percent, decreasing the opportunities to collaborate with other river ecology programs for which UMESC is responsible.

Upper Mississippi River Basin Association

415 Hamm Building, 408 St. Peter Street, St. Paul, Minnesota 55102

phone: 651-224-2880 www.umrba.org