Congressman Rick Crawford spoke to a crowd at Angler’s Depot in Heber Springs on Friday about legislation he is introducing to provide a reliable source of funding for Greers Ferry National Mitigation Hatchery
Heber Springs, Ark. —On Friday, Congressman Rick Crawford was in Heber Springs to announce legislation that will provide a reliable source of funding for mitigation fish hatcheries operations. Crawford’s First Congressional District is home to the Greers Ferry National Mitigation Hatchery in Heber Springs and the Norfork Lake National Mitigation Hatchery in Mountain Home.
“The Norfork and Greer’s Ferry Hatcheries are a huge economic boom to our rural economy. For too long, the Hatcheries have been funded on a year-to-year basis without certainty of funding every 12 months,” said Crawford.
Crawford’s bill, H.R. 5931 The National Mitigation Fisheries Coordination Act of 2012, addresses the uncertainty in the annual appropriations process by bringing the current Federal Fishery Mitigation program more in line with the successful mitigation programs in the American West. By requiring the Water Development Agencies that cause the need for mitigation to fund that mitigation, the hatcheries, and the multi-year process needed to raise fish from eggs to a releasable size, the Heber Springs and Mountain Home communities will no longer suffer the yearly uncertainty that comes with unsteady funding.
To read more, click this link.