Former Interior Official Calls for "Bold, Immediate Action" to Fund Public Lands

WASHINGTON (March 13, 2008) — Warning of “the slow, steady collapse of America’s public land conservation systems,” a former Interior Department official today challenged Congress to take “bold, immediate action” and make the additional investments needed to protect the nation’s national wildlife refuges, parks, forests and other public lands. Don Barry, Executive Vice President of The Wilderness Society and a former Assistant Secretary of the Interior, testified today before the Interior, Environment and Related Agencies Subcommittee of the House Committee on Appropriations.

A “Bread-and-Water Starvation Diet” for LWCF — Barry told committee members that the last time he appeared before the Interior appropriations panel as the Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Fish, Wildlife and Parks was in 2000, the last year of the Clinton Administration. In that capacity, he requested $413 million for the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF), a federal and state funding program to purchase lands for new parks, wildlife refuges, and open spaces. Today, the Bush Administration is proposing LWCF funding of $43 million, a mere one-tenth of what was requested in 2000. “LWCF is the heart and soul of our conservation systems today,” Barry said. “It is the single most effective land conservation tool in the history of this country, and the Bush Administration has put it on a bread-and-water starvation diet. By starving LWCF, we risk losing the very places that our families need to seek relaxation and solitude in an increasingly chaotic and urbanized world,” he warned.

Misplaced Priorities for BLM — In his written testimony, Barry denounced the Bush Administration’s proposed budget for the Bureau of Land Management, which “makes oil and gas drilling its top priority,” with a $22 million increase in the program’s funding, while reducing allocations for fisheries, cultural resources, and threatened and endangered species management, resource protection and law enforcement. He criticized the Administration’s intention to allow oil shale lease sales on BLM lands, as well as its renewed proposal to open the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas drilling.

Dangerous Cuts for the Forest Service — “The Wilderness Society is concerned that the proposed cut in 2,707 full-time positions in the U.S. Forest Service will leave many key functions of the Forest Service lacking,” Barry told the committee. More than 35 million acres of forest wilderness could be left without proper management and leadership due to the potential loss of a wilderness director and other leadership positions, Barry said. While the Forest Service has identified the loss of open space as one of its top-tier concerns, the President’s budget proposes huge cuts to two of the very programs that could help preserve open space, Barry noted. The Forest Legacy program is slated to be slashed by 76 percent, and the Urban and Community Forestry program by 82 percent. More funding also is needed for the Forest Service to manage its “increasingly deteriorating” road system, Barry testified, noting that the Forest Service can begin reaching this goal by maintaining and funding the Legacy Road and Trail Remediation Program. Barry also cited the “enormous and growing” costs of suppressing wildland fires that threaten rapidly growing residential development on the edge of national forests. He recommended a $63 million increase in funds to help states prepare for fires that will occur as new development pushes the boundaries of federal forest lands. With nearly half (48%) of the Forest Service’s FY 09 budget slated for fighting wildland fires, and climate change making fire seasons longer and more severe, he also called on Congress to create a separate fire suppression fund to manage unanticipated large fires.

Other Critical Spending Priorities — In today’s testimony, Barry urged congressional appropriators to:

* Provide adequate funding to meet the new challenges faced by U.S. public lands as a result of climate change.
* Provide $514 million for the National Wildlife Refuge System. This represents an increase of $79.9 million over the FY 08 enacted budget of $434.1 million.
* Provide $70 million for the BLM’s National Landscape Conservation System, comprising some 26 million acres of congressionally and presidentially designated lands and waters, including National Monuments and National Conservation Areas. This represents an increase of $14.7 million over the FY 08 enacted budget.

Source: www.wilderness.org