Nancy L. Johnson: “I have real concerns with this legislation. The Conte Refuge is unique. It is an urban refuge. Its goal was never to be…”

“I have real concerns with this legislation. The Conte Refuge is unique. It is an urban refuge. Its goal was never to be achieved through the acquisition of large tracts of land. Rather, its goal was to restore the Connecticut watershed through partnerships, conservation easements, cooperative agreements, environmental education with the Fish and Wildlife Service providing technical expertise and serving as the catalyst for the effort, and in fact it is moving along very well and holds enormous potential for the whole Northeast as being a very positive contribution to the preservation of our wilderness areas and the quality of our life in the Northeast. As my colleagues know, we have preservation laws not only to preserve lands, but to preserve historic buildings, and whenever we try to preserve something, people do give up certain rights because preservation carries with it certain responsibilities. Now, in my district the Appalachian Trail runs right through it, and the Government does have the right of eminent domain, if they need it in that instance, and we had to go through a very painful relocation of a portion of the trail for very good reasons of safety and so on.”