Mark Udall

I hope we can harness that excitement and that affection, that love for these national parks that exist in all the communities around every national park.

There has been an effort to pass Good Samaritan legislation that would provide ways in which volunteers and non-profits could help do that work in a very cost effective way.

Is it fair to suggest that some of the work, if not most of the work, that would be undertaken in the climate change initiative is in addition on to what you're biologists and your scientists are already doing in understanding ecosystems…

I think you talked generally about working with the other agencies within the Department of Interior. Coordination is going to be critical.

I look forward to working with you to ensure that we have the right footprint and that we use eminent domain only as a last resort.

So a start, but less than 10 percent of the need that you've----

I brought that passion, interest, over here to the Senate.

I look forward to working with him here on this important subcommittee.

I thank the ranking member for his remarks. We had an excellent working relation in the House of Representatives.

The designation of most of Rocky Mountain National Park as wilderness, ending a more than 30-year effort to achieve that designation.

The Subcommittee on National Parks meets to discuss the President's budget proposal for the National Park Service.

That's why the proposal for the development of a state-of-the-art veterans' facility at Fitzsimons was a centerpiece of the VA's capital construction plan under the Capital Asset Realignment for Enhanced Services, or CARES program.

I am glad to have the chance to testify today about the new--and, we hope, final--plan for the VA Medical Center on the Fitzsimons campus in Aurora, Colorado.

I want to thank my colleague, Representative Perlmutter, for his hard work, and our former colleague, Senator and now Secretary Salazar, for leading the charge when it looked like the VA was going to back away from its promise to build a…

It is again one of the highest priorities for the VA.

Sometimes veterans, Mr. Chairman, have to wait months to see a doctor, and veterans with spinal cord injuries have to travel to other States for treatment.

We have a new, and we hope a final plan for the VA Medical Center on the Fitzsimons Campus in Aurora, Colorado.

I look forward to reviewing the Panel's report that will result from this hearing.

I welcome you and the Congressional Oversight Panel to Greeley.

I have taken many actions to try to help the people of northeastern Colorado who have been hit hard by the agricultural and credit crisis.

I believe having a Westerner, especially one who is one of the Nation's foremost experts on water and natural resource law leading the fight offers a unique chance for success.

We need somebody who is capable of finding pragmatic solutions to difficult problems and building broad consensuses.

But what sticks out the most about Anne is her proven capacity to build consensus among a broad range of stakeholders.

I have the pleasure of introducing an extraordinary Coloradan, Ms. Anne Castle for confirmation to the important post of Assistant Secretary for Water and Science.

Is there a need for a strategy to rapidly develop and deliver cyber capabilities for the Air Force missions?