Published August 1991 — Download PDF of the original newspaper column
Byrd's-Eye View By U.S. Senator Robert C. Byrd Strengthening the Hand of an Important Environmental Ally In the effort to protect some of America's most precious natural resources, one of our strongest allies is the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. This federal agency has broad responsibilities to protect and conserve an array of fish and wildlife and their habitats, including migratory birds, endangered species, inland sport fish, and wild animals. As growth and development have exerted more and more pressure over the years on America's fish and wildlife resources, the mission of the Fish and Wildlife Service has likewise increased in importance. For this reason, I have been working with the Fish and Wildlife Service over the past several years to establish a new, state-of-the- art National Education and Training Center in West Virginia. Recently, as Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, I added $15.7 million to the 1992 Interior Appropriation Bill to keep this important project on track. This is in addition to monies that I have added to appropriation bills over the past three years for planning, design, initial construction, and related expenses for the training center. This facility, to be located at Harpers Ferry, will be a national asset that will provide comprehensive environmental education and training for employees of the Fish and Wildlife Service as well as fish and wildlife professionals from a number of other federal agencies, including the Armed Services, the Forest Service, the National Park Service, the National Marine Fisheries Service, the Bureau of Land Management, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Currently, the Fish and Wildlife Service has no up-to-date central training facility. Yet, the agency, through internal management studies, has documented the need for such a facility time and again over the past decade. The Service currently conducts its training activities in a piecemeal fashion at locations scattered throughout the country, and the result is a training program that is too fragmented and too limited in scope to meet the agency's growing responsibilities. The Education and Training Center is needed by the federal government to better protect our environment and our natural resources. And West Virginia, with its proximity to the nation's capital, its abundance of fish and wildlife species and habitats, and its cost-saving advantages for the American taxpayers, is the ideal location for such a facility. August 7, 1991