First Regular Session
Sixty-first General Assembly
LLS NO. R97@0778.01 JLB
STATE OF COLORADO
BY REPRESENTATIVE Miller;
also SENATOR Chlouber.
AGRICULTURE, LIVESTOCK AND
NATURAL RESOURCES
HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION 97-1035
WHEREAS, Sports fishing in Colorado has over one
million participants and is a very important component of Colorado's
economy, with angler expenditures exceeding 972 million dollars
in 1996; and
WHEREAS, Trout produced in the state and federal
hatchery systems and stocked into waters throughout Colorado are
important in maintaining sports fishing and its economic benefits;
and
WHEREAS, The Leadville National Fish Hatchery, first
established in 1889, has stocked waters in Colorado, and in 1996
such stocking created an estimated economic benefit of 4 million
dollars; and
WHEREAS, The United States Fish and Wildlife Service
Region 6 is conducting an environmental assessment for the purpose
of evaluating alternatives with respect to the future operation
of the Leadville National Fish Hatchery and the stocking of Colorado
waters with fish exposed to whirling disease; and
WHEREAS, The whirling disease pathogen in the Leadville
National Fish Hatchery may be eliminated, or exposure to the disease
significantly reduced, if certain known activities are completed
at the hatchery; and
WHEREAS, It is extremely important to the Colorado
economy and sports fishing that the Leadville National Fish Hatchery
be maintained as a trout production facility with research capabilities;
now, therefore,
Be It Resolved by the House of Representatives
of the Sixty-first General Assembly of the State of Colorado,
the Senate concurring herein:
That the General Assembly supports the continued
operation of the Leadville National Fish Hatchery and urges the
United States Fish and Wildlife Service to request necessary funds
from the United States Congress to reduce the risk of exposure
of trout to the whirling disease pathogen and where possible to
eliminate the pathogen entirely.
Be It Further Resolved, That
the General Assembly supports the operation of the hatchery and
adjacent federal lands in a manner that promotes public recreation
and scientific research activities.
Be It Further Resolved, That copies of this Joint Resolution be sent to all members of the Colorado delegation to the United States Congress, the Secretary of the Interior, the Director of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, and Governor Roy Romer.