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   The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the gentlewoman from Idaho (Mrs. CHENOWETH) is recognized for 5 minutes.

   Mrs. CHENOWETH. Madam Speaker, I would like to identify with the remarks of my colleagues tonight on the very heavy issue of Kosovo. However, Madam Speaker, I am going to turn our attention back clear across to this side of the globe and to Washington, D.C. because, Madam Speaker, it is with great alarm that I ask my colleagues to join me in asking the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to provide immediate and emergency protection for the Tidal Basin beaver.

   Over 200 years ago General George Washington chopped down a cherry tree. Now, had General Washington had this happen at this time in his life, and a little later on, and if he lived today, he would have been disgraced in the nightly news, his wife trapped and hauled off, with his child being pursued by trappers.

   I do not think this is the way to go, Mr. Speaker. It is time that we stand up and stop this pitiful removal of Bucky, the beaver. When you remove an indigenous species the effects are longstanding, and these beaver have made their pilgrimage back to their homeland where their ancestors once frolicked. They built dams and raised their families.

   The cherry trees surrounding the Tidal Basin are not even native to the District of Columbia, they were imported from Japan. These beaver are indigenous to this area. This is their natural habitat. These beaver are also an important part of the ecology in the District of Columbia and its unique environment.

   Out West it is the policy of the Federal agencies to remove the people, rather than the animals, when there is a conflict between people and wildlife. Now, beaver are members of the Rodentia species, which include rabbits, squirrels, chipmunks, and rats.

   Out West, in California, when a farmer accidentally ran over a rat, a kangaroo rat, with his tractor, the farmer was arrested and charged with a criminal taking of an endangered species, and his tractor was impounded so he could not use it anymore.

   I just think that we need to bring equality in the way that we handle threatened and endangered species.

   Out in Idaho, the Federal Government is reintroducing gray wolves and grizzly bears into and near populated areas. The Fish and Wildlife Service claim this reintroduction will restore the Canadian gray wolf, which never did live in Idaho, and the grizzly to its natural habitat.

   Although I think this is debatable, I strongly suggest equal treatment for Bucky the beaver, the Tidal Basin beaver. These little beaver deserve equal rights and protection under the law, if not for the sake of the animal kingdom, Madam Speaker, for the sake of humanity.

   If these rugged, pioneering beaver can make it in the polluted and murky conditions of the Potomac and the Tidal Basin, then by goodness, they deserve to be free. This is nature's way of reintroducing the native beaver. It is a natural occurrence, and who are we to fool with Mother Nature?

   As the future of the captive victim, Bucky the beaver, lies at the hands of the Fish and Wildlife Service, her mate and offspring are in danger of further separation from each other, their way of life, and the homestead that they were so diligently trying to create.

   Gene pool testing will undoubtedly determine that Bucky the beaver is an evolutionarily significant unit. This distinct population segment of the Rodentia family must be saved. If the Canadian gray wolf and the grizzly bear are good for reintroduction in Idaho, then we ought to leave the poor little beaver alone in their native habitat in Washington, D.C.

   Madam Speaker, I would like to say that this issue has spread all across the Nation, and even up into Alaska, where today a resolution was introduced in the Alaskan legislature by the majority leader of the Senate, Robin Taylor. I will enter that into the record, as well as a poem about Bucky the beaver, whose lyrics were written by Senator Robin Taylor, and they are very, very good.

   I would like to make one last plea that we do all we can to save Bucky the beaver.

   The poem and resolution referred to are as follows:

   Bucky Beaver

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   CS For Senate Joint Resolution No. 20(RES), IN THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA, TWENTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE--FIRST SESSION

   Sponsor(s): Senator Taylor

   A RESOLUTION

   Relating to the removal of beaver from Washington, D.C.

   Be it Resolved by the Legislature of the State of Alaska:

   Wheras the National Park Service is attempting to trap and remove at least two beavers from the vicinity of the Potomac Tidal Basin near the national Mall in Washington, D.C., because the beavers have downed four cherry trees and five white cedar trees; and

   Wheras the natural wild and free roaming beaver were trapped to extinction in Washington, D.C., and the Potomac Tidal Basin beaver are only retaking habitat that the species has occupied forever and in which man is the trespasser; and

   Wheras the return of beaver to Washington, D.C., will enhance the biological diversity of the nation's capital and the integrity of its residents, as cherry tree eating beavers cannot tell a lie; and

   Wheras the unrestrained development of government buildings, highways, and urban sprawl in Washington, D.C. has destroyed beaver habitat, and immediate steps should be taken to halt all major construction projects; and

   Wheras human activity in or around the Potomac Tidal Basin will undoubtedly have adverse effects on the new beaver colony; and

   Wheras Washington, D.C., and the nation as a whole would benefit from greater efforts on the part of the National Park Service to assist and protect wildlife by excluding people from areas where wildlife is attempting to reestablish a foothold on its natural range in the nation's capital; and

   Whereas federal law requires that the Potomac Tidal Basin is now, because of the beavers' pioneering effort, a critical habitat area; and

   Whereas critical habitat areas are uniquely rare, and, without immediate enforcement of federal laws, this unique subspecies of Potomac Tidal Basin beaver will again become extinct; and

   Whereas we have no information or good science about the habitat of the ``Potomac Tidal Basin beaver,'' and a task force of scientists should immediately be impaneled and all human activity in the tidal basin area halted until a thorough and complete analysis has been completed; and

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   Whereas the National Academy of Sciences has been studying predator control in Alaska for five years, and the National Park Service has labeled these beavers as very evasive and wily ``tree predators''; and

   Whereas the federal government is, over objections, reintroducing gray wolves, grizzly bear, and lynx into several western states in order to enhance the biological diversity in those states; and

   Whereas the National Park Service is closing Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve to fishing for crabs because the crabs are an essential element of the ecosystem of the park and the long established and sustainable crab fishery is inconsistent with the preservation of natural crab populations; and

   Whereas the policy of the National Park Service in Alaska and several other states is to remove the people rather than the animals when there is a conflict between people and wildlife; and

   Whereas federal law provides for extensive penalties for harassment of endangered species;

   Be it Resolved That the Alaska State Legislature respectfully requests that the National Park Service cease its efforts to remove the beaver from the Potomac Tidal Basin in Washington, D.C., and assist the reestablishment of a healthy beaver population in the nation's capital; and be it

   Further Resolved That the Alaska State Legislature respectfully requests the Fish and Wildlife Services to exercise its federal authority and cite, with criminal violations, members and contractors of the National Park Service who harass the Potomac Tidal Basin beavers; and be it

   Further Resolved That the Alaska State Legislature respectfully requests the National Park Service to investigate the habitat requirements for beaver in Washington, D.C., and the adaptations that beaver have made to cope with the unique urban environment of Washington, D.C., establish protected beaver habitat areas in Washington, D.C., and use good science in its actions regarding beaver in Washington, D.C.

   Copies of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Al Gore, Jr., Vice-President of the United States and President of the U.S. Senate; to the Honorable Bruce Babbitt, Secretary, U.S. Department of the Interior, to Robert G. Stanton, Director, National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, to Jamie Rappaport Clark, Director, Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Department of the Interior; to all members of the U.S. Congress; to the Honorable John Kitzhaber, Governor, State of Oregon; to Paul G. Risser, Ph.D., President, Oregon State University; and to the Honorable Ted Stevens and the Honorable Frank Murkowski, U.S. Senators, and the Honorable Don Young, U.S. Representative, members of the Alaska delegation in Congress.

END