UPPER MONONGAHELA COMMITTEE FOR BETTER BOATING
DONALD C. STRIMBECK
P. O. Box 519
Granville WV 26534-0519

Friday 30 March 2001

Representative Alan B. Mollohan
2346 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington DC 20515-4801

Dear Representative Mollohan:

Thank you for your letter of 23 March, stating that you've signed on as a cosponsor of the National Recreation Lakes Act (NRLA). I hope that all of our West Virginia congressional delegation joins as cosponsors.

Our committee would like to see the proposed act amended to include navigable rivers, and, to add pleasure boating and related recreations to the waterways responsibilities currently discharged by the US Army Corps of Engineers (COE). While these amendments ostensibly are for recreation purposes only, they also are needed to provide a legislative basis for furthering tourism and general economic development in our Upper Mon region in West Virginia, and for similar river regions in the United States. These amendments would broaden the scope of the act, and, thus, gain more support in Congress and from the public for the act.

We hope that you and Senator Byrd will champion these amendments. Our committee's suggested amendments were listed in my 5 January 2001 letter to Senator Byrd. That letter is also contained in the introduction to my 19 February 2001 report, Commerce Decline on Upper Monongahela Threatens Recreational Boating. You, Senator Byrd, and, all those on the cc list below, have a copy of this report.

All of you also recently received, again, as an enclosure to my 26 March letter to Senator Byrd, a copy of Wally Venable's 16 March 2000 letter to you, concerning the need to add boating recreation to COE's waterways responsibilities. Wally's cogent letter provides a sound basis for the amendments we seek to the draft NRLA.

I'm also enclosing our committee's press release to the West Virginia legislature this past Wednesday.

Our committee appreciates your interest. And, we are prepared to testify at congressional hearings concerning the draft NRLA.

Sincerely,

UPPER MONONGAHELA COMMITTEE FOR BETTER BOATING

cc w/encl: Senators Byrd, Rockefeller, Lincoln, and Breaux. Representatives Deal, Saxton, Rahall, and, Capito. Gov. Wise. Secretary of the Interior Gale A. Norton. Bob Herbst, National Recreation Lakes Coalition. Mick Blackistone, National Marine Manufacturers Association. Mike Sciulla. BOATUS magazine. All four lock hours email lists.

Wednesday 28 March 2001

PRESS RELEASE TO WV STATE LEGISLATURE, BY UPPER MONONGAHELA COMMITTEE FOR BETTER BOATING

BACKROUND!

I'm sure you read John Samsell's HIGH TIMES in the Dominion Post, MONONGAHELA RIVER FREEZES OVER JUST THIRD TIME IN A CENTURY, page 7A, Saturday 10 February 2001. If not, go to archives at http://www.dominionpost.com , and, check it out. In his article, John talks about Nina Forest's help with the article. And, that Nina is a master's candidate in ag sci at WVU, working on a project about WV rivers, which, amongst many things, will lead to a multimedia web page about West Virginia rivers. So, I emailed Ag Sci Dean Hackney, and, he forwarded my email to Nina. Nina stopped at my hovel on 19 February, and, I gave her a copy of Arthur Parker's book, THE MONONGAHELA, published in 1999, and, available at Amazon.com. And, Nina also has a copy of my 19 February 2001 report, Commerce Decline on Upper Monongahela Threatens Recreational Boating. Anyway, in Nina's 9 March email to me, she said she is working with Senator Underwood about getting a farm/land preservation bill passed. And, she is drafting a press release that she'll distribute to all members of the WV legislature on Wednesday 28 March. Nina offered to include a page re our lock hours stuff. I emailed Nina back with, amongst other things, a DUH question as to how our lock hours stuff would tie in with farmland preservation!!!??? She replied that one aspect of your project that ties into hers is preservation of nature, and, she would add an introductory note to that effect. Soooooooooooo!! Here is the lock hours press release.

PRESS RELEASE

From: Don Strimbeck

For: Upper Monongahela Committee for Better Boating (MONCOM)

(distributed to WV State legislature on Mar. 28, 2001 by Nina Forest, MA, WVU, webmaster for River Passages Multimedia Webpage, "River Passages." Email forest_services@excite.com. WVU phone 304-293-5031.

BOATING RECREATION INITIATIVES CAN BOOST TOURISM AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN WEST VIRGINIA

The Upper Monongahela Committee for Better Boating (MONCOM) is calling attention to recreational boating, and related recreations, as a quality of life issue for West Virginians that also affects the state's tourism and economic development efforts. MONCOM sees three needs for action on boating recreation matters important to West Virginians.

First, Congress is now considering the National Recreation Lakes Act of 2001 (NRLA). The act proposes recreational enhancements for lakes created by federal dams. West Virginia has several such lakes, such as the Tygart dam near Grafton, that could benefit with passage of the act. MONCOM urges state and local officials to work with our congressional delegation to achieve passage of the NRLA. Boating caucuses are being formed in the United States Senate and House of Representatives. MONCOM urges our West Virginia congressional delegation to join these caucuses.

Information about the NRLA can be obtained from several websites. The text of the draft act can be obtained from the Library of Congress THOMAS website, http://thomas.loc.gov, by typing the title of the act into the search site, or the number assigned to the draft act, S.531.IS, or, H.R.1013.IH. The National Marine Manufacturers Association website, http://www.nmma.org, provides background information concerning the proposed bill, and organizations supporting the bill. Be sure to check out NMMA affiliates, especially the States Organization for Boating Access. The NMMA website will also refer you to other useful websites, such as http://www.doi.gov/nrls, http://www.recreationlakes.com, and, the excellent US Army Corps of Engineers (COE) website at http://www.usace.army.mil.

Second, MONCOM has one major reservation concerning the NRLA, in that it does not apply to boating and related recreations on our nation's navigable rivers, many of which are in West Virginia, and which also lack the same amenities addressed by the NRLA for lakes only! MONCOM thus proposes that the NRLA be amended to include boating recreation on our nation's navigable rivers. This is especially important for boating recreation on rivers such as our Upper Monongahela in West Virginia, where the drastic decline in river commerce threatens recreational boating. The MONCOM report, Commerce Decline on Upper Monongahela Threatens Recreational Boating, proposes amendments to the NRLA to also apply the act to navigable rivers, and, related tourism and economic development issues. Copies of this report are available upon request, from Don Strimbeck, 109 Broad Street, P. O. Box 519, Granville WV 26534-0519, 304-599-7585 (fax: 4131), email DCSOINKS@WESTCO.NET.

Third, West Virginians could well benefit from the federal Boating Infrastructure Grants (BIG). This program will help provide the shore-side infrastructure for navigable rivers and very large lakes needed to support long range several day excursions by boats 26 feet or larger. This would be a great encouragement for river recreation, tourism, and, economic development, in West Virginia!! For further information on BIG, go to the BOATUS website, http://www.boatus.com/gov, then, to Boating Infrastructure Program, and, then, to Waterborne Tax Return. Many West Virginia riverside entities will want to check this out, eg, Morgantown and Fairmont! Contact Curtis Taylor, WV Dept. of Natural Resources, 304-558-2771, email ctaylor@dnr.state.wv.us, for information concerning West Virginia's participation in BIG.

MONCOM also suggests checking US ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS, THE OTHER WATERBORNE SERVICE, at the BOATUS government website, by clicking on Current Issues. West Virginians need to support COE needs for modernizing boating and related recreation facilities, at the modest cost of one third of a billion dollars!!

West Virginians also need to be aware that President Bush proposes a 14 percent cut in the COE budget, with cuts especially aimed at rivers like our Upper Mon in West Virginia! For further information, go to http://washingtonpost.com, enter CORPS OF ENGINEERS in the News Search site, and, get the article PUBLIC WORKS STUDY HALTED, Thursday 1 March 2001.

MONCOM urges West Virginia boaters, fishers, and, riverside campers, to contact their government folks, at the local, state, and national levels, to encourage them to pursue these boating and related recreation initiatives, which will improve the quality of life in West Virginia and boost tourism and economic development! END

For further information, contact Don Strimbeck.