SavageLlama
05-10-2005, 23:27
Environmental Programs Hit with Drastic Cuts
Land Acquisition and Land and Water Conservation cut
by Appalachian Trail News
May 9th, 2005
For the third consecutive spring, the House interior appropriations subcommittee has approved a bill drastically cutting back funds for federal land acquisition in the fiscal year that begins October 1. Its parent committee's chair told it to go 2.2 percent below current funding for Interior Department and other environmental programs, the largest hit for any of the 11 budget areas. The subcommittee this week proposed $43 million for the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF), compared to $132 million requested by the Bush administration and the $255 million appropriated for the current fiscal year. The House committee last year proposed only $50 million, having failed in 2003 to limit it to $25 million. The LWCF—the primary source of funds to buy strips of surrounding land to protect the Appalachian Trail since 1978—was created in 1964 with an authorized (but never appropriated) level of $900 million a year. Although the subcommittee has eight Trail-state members, including Chairman Charles H. Taylor of North Carolina, ATC and other supporters of the LWCF are looking to the Senate Appropriations Committee to again partly salvage the situation later in the year.
See the Appalachian Trail Corridor Countdown for an overview of miles and acres left to acquire, by state.
The National Park Service recently completed the New Hampshire part of its A.T.-protection program, but still has to acquire 49 tracts to buffer 6.2 miles of the footpath in other states, primarily Pennsylvania and Maryland; those funds were allocated in 1998. The USDA Forest Service, on the other hand, needs new LWCF or special appropriations to cover the 94 tracts on its list of lands needed to fully surround the A.T. in Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina, and Georgia. In addition, the agencies had proposed funding projects in Maine, Connecticut, and Georgia that are either adjacent to the Trail corridor or would protect lands the hiker would easily see from the A.T., descriptions of which are available from The Wilderness Society. More background about the Land and Water Conservation Fund and budgets is available from the American Hiking Society.
Land Acquisition and Land and Water Conservation cut
by Appalachian Trail News
May 9th, 2005
For the third consecutive spring, the House interior appropriations subcommittee has approved a bill drastically cutting back funds for federal land acquisition in the fiscal year that begins October 1. Its parent committee's chair told it to go 2.2 percent below current funding for Interior Department and other environmental programs, the largest hit for any of the 11 budget areas. The subcommittee this week proposed $43 million for the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF), compared to $132 million requested by the Bush administration and the $255 million appropriated for the current fiscal year. The House committee last year proposed only $50 million, having failed in 2003 to limit it to $25 million. The LWCF—the primary source of funds to buy strips of surrounding land to protect the Appalachian Trail since 1978—was created in 1964 with an authorized (but never appropriated) level of $900 million a year. Although the subcommittee has eight Trail-state members, including Chairman Charles H. Taylor of North Carolina, ATC and other supporters of the LWCF are looking to the Senate Appropriations Committee to again partly salvage the situation later in the year.
See the Appalachian Trail Corridor Countdown for an overview of miles and acres left to acquire, by state.
The National Park Service recently completed the New Hampshire part of its A.T.-protection program, but still has to acquire 49 tracts to buffer 6.2 miles of the footpath in other states, primarily Pennsylvania and Maryland; those funds were allocated in 1998. The USDA Forest Service, on the other hand, needs new LWCF or special appropriations to cover the 94 tracts on its list of lands needed to fully surround the A.T. in Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina, and Georgia. In addition, the agencies had proposed funding projects in Maine, Connecticut, and Georgia that are either adjacent to the Trail corridor or would protect lands the hiker would easily see from the A.T., descriptions of which are available from The Wilderness Society. More background about the Land and Water Conservation Fund and budgets is available from the American Hiking Society.