House Conference Report

111TH CONGRESS
" HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
1st Session

!

REPORT
111–316

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, ENVIRONMENT, AND
RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2010

OCTOBER 28, 2009.—Ordered to be printed

Mr. DICKS, from the committee of conference,
submitted the following

CONFERENCE REPORT
[To accompany H.R 2996]

The committee of conference on the disagreeing votes of the
two Houses on the amendment of the Senate to the bill (H.R.
2996), making appropriations for the Department of the Interior,
environment, and related agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2010, and for other purposes, having met, after full and
free conference, have agreed to recommend and do recommend to
their respective Houses as follows;
That the House recede from its disagreement to the amendment of the Senate and agree to the same with an amendment as
follows:
In lieu of the matter proposed to be inserted by the Senate
amendment, insert the following:
REFERENCES

SECTION 1. Except as expressly provided otherwise, any reference to ‘‘this Act’’ contained in any division of this Act shall be
treated as referring only to the provisions of that division.

smartinez on DSKD5P82C1PROD with REPORTS

DIVISION A—DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, ENVIRONMENT, AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT,
2010
The following sums are appropriated, out of any money in the
Treasury not otherwise appropriated, for the Department of the Interior, environment, and related agencies for the fiscal year ending
September 30, 2010, and for other purposes, namely:
52–820

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84
aging the monuments and partnering with other Federal, international, and private entities.
Migratory Bird Management, Law Enforcement, and International Affairs.—The conference agreement provides $134,743,000
for migratory bird management, law enforcement and international
affairs instead of $133,593,000 as proposed by the House and
$133,573,000 as proposed by the Senate.
Within the funds provided for migratory birds, law enforcement and international programs, there are increases of $500,000
for new urban treaties as a part of the Department-wide youth initiative, $1,000,000 for joint ventures under the North American
Waterfowl Management Plan, $2,000,000 for law enforcement operations, $1,000,000 for the wildlife without borders program, and
$150,000 for the Caddo Lake Ramsar Center. The increase for joint
ventures is intended to provide all approved joint ventures with
sufficient base funding.
The conferees are aware of the impacts of the chytrid disease
on amphibian species worldwide. Amphibian species are disappearing at over 200 times their historic rate. The conferees urge
the Service to use a portion of the increase provided for the wildlife
without borders program to work with the international conservation community to establish conservation and captive breeding programs as well as to support the development and testing of novel
methods to combat amphibian chytrid to conserve the most imperiled of these species.
Fisheries.—The conference agreement provides $148,345,000
for the fisheries program instead of $144,195,000 as proposed by
the House and $143,695,000 as proposed by the Senate.
Within the funds provided for fisheries and aquatic resource
conservation, there is: $2,150,000 to conduct scientific review of the
Klamath, North Coast, and Central Valley hatchery operations in
California; $1,000,000 for mass marking fisheries in the Great
Lakes; $500,000 general increase for fish hatchery operations;
$500,000 for native freshwater mussel recovery; $1,300,000 to establish a Fisheries Resource Office in West Virginia to focus on
aquatic species restoration and management in the Appalachian
Highlands; $2,000,000 to control the spread of and eradicate
invasive quagga and zebra mussels; and $200,000 for sea otter and
Steller sea lion conservation in Alaska.
The conference agreement includes $2,000,000 above the President’s request for the Service to respond to the urgent nationwide
problem of invasive mussels entering lakes and rivers in the U.S.
These mussels crowd out native species and encrust any hard surface, including municipal water supply pipes and boat motors. They
are easily spread by watercraft from one location to another and
are nearly impossible to eradicate once established. For example,
the infestation of quagga mussels in Lake Mead was first found in
2007. The number of quagga mussels has grown to 3 trillion since
then and is likely irreversible. Today, infestation by quagga and
zebra mussels and Asian clams is threatening the pristine waters
of Lake Tahoe. The introduction of these aquatic nuisance species
to the Lake Tahoe region could have devastating effects to the regional economy, including effects on recreation, tourism, property
values, and other infrastructure. Therefore, the conferees strongly

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