Copyright 2000 The Atlanta Constitution
The Atlanta
Journal and Constitution
February 27, 2000, Sunday, Home Edition
SECTION: Sports; Pg. 18G
LENGTH: 516 words
HEADLINE:
Conservation bill taps billions;
WORTH NOTING: Odds and
ends from the outdoors notebook;
Outdoors: A weekly look at outdoor
activities around Georgia.
BYLINE: Scott Bernarde, Kent
Mitchell, Staff
SOURCE: AJC
BODY:
Georgia's natural resources could get a boost
of nearly $ 40 million in a bill under consideration in the U.S. House of
Representatives.
Washington legislative-watchers from the Wildlife
Resources Division of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources report that
House Republicans and Democrats are co-sponsoring a bill that has been hailed as
the most far- reaching conservation-funding legislation ever
brought before Congress.
The bill left the House Resources Committee
with a final list of 301 co- sponsors, more than two-thirds of the House.
The bipartisan legislation, known as the Conservation and
Reinvestment Act of 1999 --- CARA, HR 701 --- would permanently
appropriate revenues from oil and gas development on the Outer Continental
Shelf, which have totaled more than $ 120 billion since 1954.
"This bill
will help restore imperiled species, conserve wild places, maintain recreational
access and educate kids about the wonders of our natural world," said David
Waller, WRD director and president of the International Association of Fish
& Wildlife Agencies. "At the same time, it will save millions of dollars in
remedial efforts and reduce the need for government regulations."
Georgia's $ 40 million would cover seven different areas for
conservation and environmental programs.
For more
information on CARA, call the WRD at 770-918-6401 or check the Internet
(www.teaming.com or www.house.gov/resources/ocs).
Redhorse update
People in South Georgia will fight over the last few fish in the frying
pan if they are redhorse suckers. But the fights have been rare lately, because
redhorse populations have been cut drastically by sedimentation and predation
from flathead catfish, illegally introduced into rivers.
The robust
redhorse, the largest member of the redhorse sucker family on the Atlantic
slope, can reach a length of 30 inches and a weigh15 pounds.
Steps were
taken Wednesday to ease the plight of the redhorse, with a restocking of
fingerlings on the Oconee River near Toomsboro. The robust redhorse is believed
to have once been common throughout rivers in Georgia and the Carolinas that
flow into the Atlantic Ocean.
The Robust Redhorse
Conservation Committee was formed in 1995 to determine why the
fish has declined and to restore the species to a sustainable level. The project
is a cooperative effort between private and public entities, including Georgia
Power Co., the Wildlife Resources Division of the state Department of Natural
Resources and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Results
Alan
McGinnis and Jimmy Brown, both of Loganville, won a Fishing in America crappie
tournament on Lake Talquin near Quincy, Fla. The two caught seven fish weighing
13.87 pounds. . . . Andy Yates of Tennille and Barry Frazier of Martinez won a
Southern Bass Anglers Invitational Team Series tournament on Lake Sinclair, with
a five-fish limit weighing 16.15 pounds. . . . John Kelly of Marianna, Fla., won
the Red Man Tournament Trail Bulldog Division season opener on Lake Seminole,
with a five-fish stringer weighing 21 pounds, 2 ounces.
LOAD-DATE: February 27, 2000 
