It's not only is there a sense of protecting these special places. It's recognizing that there's economic benefit.

We think this provides a very positive step forward.

It is thoughtful and includes all local interests.

There may be more to work with than meets the eye.

I appreciate the time and energy that has gone into the development of the Heritage Act.

We can't have a timber industry and we can't have a recreation industry.

S. 2001 has wide support at state and local levels, as well as from a wide range of local citizens and stakeholders.

Our wilderness future on the Rocky Mountain Front depends on it!

For several years, Senator Wyden and other members of the Oregon Congressional delegation have worked with local stakeholders...

Of course, worked with you on a number of instances, so let's see what we can do to find some common ground here.

We applaud Senator Ron Wyden for leading the effort to protect the Wild Rogue River.

I thank my colleague.

I look forward to working closely with you and getting it out.

If enacted, it would designate all 1,000 acres of the BLM land in the San Juan Island area as a National Conservation Area ensuring that they would remain a national treasure.

The Cabin User Fee Fairness Act of 2000 has proven unworkable and has resulted in excessive fees for cabin owners.

I urge you to advance S. 2001 and work to insure that our irreplaceable Rogue River and its supporting watersheds are protected for future generations.

I also want to tell you how much I appreciate your comments about my Rogue legislation.

This committee does its work in a bipartisan basis. I think we can move forward expeditiously on today's agenda.

the same day he was testifying, the AFRC officially reversed its position on this bill and announced its opposition to S 2001

I have been able to listen a bit to the wonderful tributes over the last few hours to Senator Mikulski. We all know of her wonderful service all these years, the record that is being shattered--a very special record. As I listened to some…

If my colleagues don't have any other questions at this point, we'll excuse both of you and go to our next panel.

What we're going to need is sensible policies that in effect, nurture this economic advantage.

I think that's so key. On this committee we try to put together a bipartisan coalition for some of these questions.

This is good news. This is a shot in the arm to the economy.

I think there are a number of ways. Speaking to the electricity side, for example, one of the things I think the FERC can do is to try to support, as much as possible, a bottoms up approach to system planning.