Tin Man
06-01-2006, 23:06
I guess since the Bushies want to sell land, they decided they didn't need to buy any more land. :-?
The following is from citizen-news (http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060531/OPINION01/60530045/1194).
Forest fund being quietly eviscerated
<!--Byline--><!--Timestamp-->published May 31, 2006 12:15 am
Early this month, the House Interior Appropriations Subcommittee, chaired by our own Rep. Charles Taylor, “zeroed out” of the federal budget money for the Land and Water Conservation Fund grants that states have used for local parks and recreation projects.
The subcommittee also approved only $26.8 million for federal land acquisition projects, less than one-third of the $83 million in the Bush administration budget and far short of the $220 million called for by more than 120 bipartisan members of Congress.
In addition, the Forest Legacy Program, which helps states conserve private forestlands from development, got only $9.3 million for four projects, less than a quarter of the $61.5 million President Bush requested for 31 projects in various states.
The full house later approved the Appropriation Subcommittee’s version of the bill, which is yet to be voted on in the Senate. North Carolina’s senators Elizabeth Dole and Richard Burr could help to reverse the short-sighted handiwork of the House when they have an opportunity, which should come soon.
The Land and Water Conservation Fund was established in 1964 with receipts from offshore oil and gas leases. The LWCF Act gives Congress the authorization to provide up to $900 million annually to the fund.
But over the course of time, as a result of deficit budgets and policy changes, the money has gotten diverted to other uses.
Acquisitions made with the funds are intended for the purpose of preserving clean water, providing wildlife habitat and providing recreation opportunities for citizens.
During the 1970s the fund helped develop parks all over the country, including the Appalachian Trail, which stretches 2,150 miles along the mountain ridges from central Maine to North Georgia.
Altogether, the LWCF has funded the purchase of more than 150,000 acres along the Appalachian Trail, including acquisitions in the Pisgah and Nantahala national forests in Western North Carolina.
The Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the Blue Ridge Parkway, the Carl Sandburg National Historic Site have all benefited from federal LWCF grants. State grants from the LWCF have benefited Lake Julian Park, Martin Luther King, Jr. Park, Charles D. Owen District Park, Montford Recreation Complex, Lake Tomahawk, and the French Broad River Park.
With development pressure intensifying, it’s ever more critical to protect tracts of land for the purposes set forth in the act creating the LWCF — to provide recreation, to preserve scenic landscapes, to protect water quality and to provide wildlife habitat.
It’s a disappointment that instead of siding with the 120 bipartisan members of Congress who want $220 million for federal LWCF projects, Congressman Taylor was among the chief architects of the bill that reduced the funding below even the Bush administration request. We urge Sens. Dole and Burr to think about the legacy they and their peers will leave to future generations and to vote to increase the funding for land and water conservation.
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The following is from citizen-news (http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060531/OPINION01/60530045/1194).
Forest fund being quietly eviscerated
<!--Byline--><!--Timestamp-->published May 31, 2006 12:15 am
Early this month, the House Interior Appropriations Subcommittee, chaired by our own Rep. Charles Taylor, “zeroed out” of the federal budget money for the Land and Water Conservation Fund grants that states have used for local parks and recreation projects.
The subcommittee also approved only $26.8 million for federal land acquisition projects, less than one-third of the $83 million in the Bush administration budget and far short of the $220 million called for by more than 120 bipartisan members of Congress.
In addition, the Forest Legacy Program, which helps states conserve private forestlands from development, got only $9.3 million for four projects, less than a quarter of the $61.5 million President Bush requested for 31 projects in various states.
The full house later approved the Appropriation Subcommittee’s version of the bill, which is yet to be voted on in the Senate. North Carolina’s senators Elizabeth Dole and Richard Burr could help to reverse the short-sighted handiwork of the House when they have an opportunity, which should come soon.
The Land and Water Conservation Fund was established in 1964 with receipts from offshore oil and gas leases. The LWCF Act gives Congress the authorization to provide up to $900 million annually to the fund.
But over the course of time, as a result of deficit budgets and policy changes, the money has gotten diverted to other uses.
Acquisitions made with the funds are intended for the purpose of preserving clean water, providing wildlife habitat and providing recreation opportunities for citizens.
During the 1970s the fund helped develop parks all over the country, including the Appalachian Trail, which stretches 2,150 miles along the mountain ridges from central Maine to North Georgia.
Altogether, the LWCF has funded the purchase of more than 150,000 acres along the Appalachian Trail, including acquisitions in the Pisgah and Nantahala national forests in Western North Carolina.
The Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the Blue Ridge Parkway, the Carl Sandburg National Historic Site have all benefited from federal LWCF grants. State grants from the LWCF have benefited Lake Julian Park, Martin Luther King, Jr. Park, Charles D. Owen District Park, Montford Recreation Complex, Lake Tomahawk, and the French Broad River Park.
With development pressure intensifying, it’s ever more critical to protect tracts of land for the purposes set forth in the act creating the LWCF — to provide recreation, to preserve scenic landscapes, to protect water quality and to provide wildlife habitat.
It’s a disappointment that instead of siding with the 120 bipartisan members of Congress who want $220 million for federal LWCF projects, Congressman Taylor was among the chief architects of the bill that reduced the funding below even the Bush administration request. We urge Sens. Dole and Burr to think about the legacy they and their peers will leave to future generations and to vote to increase the funding for land and water conservation.
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