Pete Domenici: “we get few opportunities to help usher in visionary projects that can potentially transform communities, both of man and…”

“we get few opportunities to help usher in visionary projects that can potentially transform communities, both of man and of nature. I rise today to talk about such a project--one that has been discussed before on this floor when I helped unveil a vision that would rehabilitate and restore New Mexico's Bosque. I return here today to implement that vision that concerns this long neglected treasure of the Southwest. According to an old Chinese Proverb, ``if you are thinking one year ahead, sow seed. If you are thinking ten years ahead, plant a tree. If you are thinking 100 years ahead, educate the people.'' The bill I am introducing today encompasses the wisdom of that proverb. The Albuquerque metropolitan area is the largest concentration of people in New Mexico. It is also the home to the irreplaceable riparian forest which runs through the heart of the city and surrounding towns that is the Bosque. It is the largest continuous cottonwood forest in the Southwest, and one of the last of its kind in the world. Unfortunately, mismanagement, neglect, and the effects of upstream development have severely degraded the Bosque. The list of its woes is long: it has been overrun by non-native vegetation; graffiti and trash mar locations along its length; the drought and build up of hazardous fuel have contributed to fires. As a result, public access is problematical and crucial habitat for scores of species is threatened.…”