Wayne Gilchrest: “Mr. Chairman, we just heard some eloquent remarks about small little jewels being preserved and not being able to wait a…”

“Mr. Chairman, we just heard some eloquent remarks about small little jewels being preserved and not being able to wait a few more years for lack of funding because of the advancing concrete. If we could picture in our mind the East Coast of the United States and then picture from Boston to Richmond. It is almost a constant corridor of buildings and highways, a megalopolis. And in the midst of that constant corridor is a tiny little space viewed from space that is still dark. It is called the Delmarva Peninsula, made up of Maryland, Delaware and Virginia. What we have done is worked with the three States on that tiny little peninsula to retain its rural character by creating a Habitat Conservation Corridor for those three States on the peninsula for wildlife. We are working to produce and preserve and make profitable agriculture. And we are going to restore 10 percent of the original historic number of oysters in the Chesapeake Bay, which will do tremendous things for water quality. Mr. Chairman, I urge a ``no'' vote on this amendment for those jewels in this country that still can be preserved.”