Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 90 Part 1.djvu/1239

 PUBLIC LAW 94-389—AUG. 14, 1976

90 STAT. 1189

Public Law 94-389 94th Congress Joint Resolution Providing for Federal participation in preserving the Tule elk population in California.

Aug. 14, 1976 [H.J. Res. 738]

Whereas, although Tule elk once roamed the central valleys of California in vast numbers, the species became nearly extinct during the latter part of the last century as a result of its native habitat being developed for agricultural purposes and urban growth; and Whereas, although around 1870 the Tule elk population reached a low of approximately thirty animals, through the dedicated efforts of various citizen groups and individual cattlemen, the population has slowly recovered to a total of approximately six hundred animals, the majority of which may be found in free-roaming herds in the Owens Valley, at Cache Creek in Colusa County, California, a small number which are captive in the Tupman Refuge in Vern County, California; and Whereas in 1971 the California Legislature, recognizing the threat to the Tule elk as a species, amended section 332 and enacted section 3951 of the Fish and Game Code which provide for the encouragement of a statewide population of Tule elk of not less than two thousand, if suitable areas can be found in California to accommodate such population in a healthy environment, and further fixed the population of the Tule elk in the Owens Vallev at four hundred and ninety animals, or such greater number as might thereafter be determined by the California Department of Fish and Game, in accordance with game management principles, to be the Owens Valley holding capacity; and Whereas the Tule elk is considered by the Department of the Interior to be a rare, though not endangered, species by reason of the steps taken by the State of California; and Whereas the protection and maintenance of California's Tule elk in a free and wild state is of educational, scientific, and esthetic value to the people of the United States; and Whereas there are Federal lands in the State of California (including, but not limited to, the San Luis National Wildlife Refuge, the Point Reyes National Seashore, various national forests and national parks, and Bureau of Land Management lands located in central California, as well as lands under the jurisdiction of the Secretary of Defense such as Camp Pendleton, Camp Roberts, and Camp Hunter Liggett) which, together with adjacent lands in public and private ownership, offer a potential for increasing the Tule elk population in California to the two thousand level envisioned by the California Legislature: Now, therefore, be it Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United, States of America in Congress assembled, That it is the sense of California. Congress that the restoration and conservation of a Tule elk ponn- Tule elk lation in California of at least two thousand, except that the number population, of Tule elk in the Owens River Watershed area shall at no time exceed preservation. four hundred and ninety or such greater number which is determined 16 USC 673d. by the State of California to be the maximum holding capacity of such area, is an appropriate national goal.

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