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<br />001646 <br /> <br />WELCOMING REMARKS - WSWC E.c'lDANGERED SPECIES ACT CONFERENCE <br /> <br />by <br /> <br />JO CLARK <br />WESTERN GOVERNORS' ASSOCIATION <br /> <br />October 5, 1994 <br /> <br />My name is Jo Clark and I MAnAge the Land and Wllterprograms for WGA, which include <br />Endangered Species Act related activities. I also coordinate a program called the Great Plaius <br />Initiative which is llllge scale ecosystem management effot1, rc..,,!.lng from Canada to Mexico. <br />The focus of OPI is to reverse declining trends in species before they reach the ~tlAngered pOint. <br />Our emphasis is on ~n!...n"ing their ecosystems while protecting the weI1 being of Plains' <br />residents. GPI is based on the adage "An ounce of protection is worth a pound of cure.1I <br /> <br />I want to commend both the Wakr Counci1811d the Western Association for agleCing to hold this <br />joint workshop. It Is the first time Pm aware of that two professional associations have agreed to <br />meet together to resolve problems surrounding joint jtnisdiction. Yet this kind of meeting is <br />needed With almost any issue. <br /> <br />~ I have attended Western States Water Council meetings off and on for twelve years. Topics such <br />as river morphology, riparian habitat, and healthy aquatic ecosystems have just not been part of <br />the discussion Until a species gets 1isted or a law !ltlit filed. By then it is too late to do much to <br />avoid the problem, options lmllimited, lIIId positiODB haVll hardr::ncd, m..Jnng cooperation much <br />more difficult. <br /> <br />I also attended a recent symposium on Large Floodplain River Management in LaCrosse, <br />WISCOnsin. The symposium WlIlI a follow-up to the floods on the Mississippi and Missouri <br />Rivers. While there, I met one fedeml water m-ger, a Corps of Engineers employee. Holly <br />Stoerker. Dlrec:ror ofICWP and the Upper Mississippi River Basin Commission, and I were as <br />close to state water m""Agers as I found. How can a group of biologists talk about restoring <br />floodplains and natural hydrographs without having the people who manage the rivers there? <br /> <br />Unfortunar.ely, water managers and biologists IIlC not unique with this problem. Two weeks ago <br />the Society of American Archaeologists held a conference, one tnck ofwbich add:essed <br />archaeology and ecosyste.m..managcment. While most of the attendees were either agency <br />lUClwloI.oglsts or academics. tb.oy Invited six or so non-archaeologists to give them advice on <br />how they might fit into ecosystem management. <br /> <br />I hadn't realized until then that axchaeology Is unique and distinct from anthropology, <br />ethnography, cultural history, architeetural history, and landscape history, not to mention all the <br />cross-ever fields like ethno-biology. I suggested that as someone trying to make ecosystem <br />management work, it wasn't Important to me what a person's field was. I just wanted someone <br />