Senator Sarbanes Discusses Nutria Control Legislation

Mr. SARBANES. Mr. President, this legislation would reauthorize and expand the Nutria Control Project established under Public Law 105-322 to help address the non-native rodent nutria which is destroying wetlands and valuable habitat at and around Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge on the Eastern Shore of Maryland and in Louisiana. Sponsored by my colleague, Representative WAYNE GILCHREST, the legislation authorizes $4 million in grant assistance to the State of Maryland and $2 million to the State of Louisiana for each of the next 5 fiscal years to help alleviate this invasive problem.

Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge and its surrounding wetlands are being threatened by the prolific and highly invasive non-indigenous species nutria which is destroying the tidal marshes and even displacing other native species. Over the past three decades, the population of nutria in Maryland has grown exponentially from about 150 to as many as 150,000—a thousand fold increase. During that same period, Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge has lost more than 40 percent of its marshes—approximately 7000 of 17,000 acres—due, in large part, to nutria. As nutria population densities continue to increase, so does the range of the creature and its associated ecological damage. According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, every Maryland county south of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge on both the eastern and western shores has reported nutria. Without action, resource managers believe that valuable habitat will continue to be lost at an accelerated rate, numerous fish and wildlife resources will be impacted, and the range and distribution of this invasive species will continue to expand.

In 1998, the Congress enacted legislation Public Law 105-322—authorizing $2.9 million for a 3-year pilot project designed to develop techniques to control nutria populations and to restore degraded marsh habitat. Over the past 3 years, approximately $2 million has been appropriated for studies of the reproductive capacity of the species, methods to eradicate nutria populations, and prospects for restoring wetlands destroyed by the critter along Maryland's Eastern Shore. The authorization expired in September 2002, and new legislation is needed to move to the next phase of a control and ultimately an eradication program. Results of the project in phase II are expected to be applicable throughout the range of nutria in North America, which includes 15 States and potentially over 1 million acres of marsh habitat on national wildlife refuges.

This legislation authorizes the Federal funds necessary to carry out the program. I urge adoption of the legislation.