President Leaves Out Much Needed Funds for Public Lands in FY09 Budget

News Release

President Leaves Out Much Needed Funds for Public Lands in FY09 Budget
Budget Would Drill Arctic Refuge, Sell Public Lands and Under-fund Multiple Programs Including the Forest Legacy Program and the Land and Water Conservation Fund

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WASHINGTON (February 4, 2008) - The FY 2009 budget released today by President Bush continues a string of budget cuts that jeopardize public lands and promote oil and gas drilling. The budget would cut State and Private Forestry funding by a dramatic 58 percent while funding the National Wildlife Refuge System at a loss of $15 million due to its failure to account for the cost of annual inflation.

This President also assumes that budget shortfalls could be funded by leasing the Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge despite this course of action being rejected by Congress every time it has been proposed.

"The President's budget would deprive future generations of well-managed, ecologically viable wilderness lands such as the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge or Colorado's Roan Plateau," Wilderness Society President William Meadows said. "Once again this year, we look to Congress to safeguard our nation's rugged, wild places from excessive oil and gas drilling and to properly fund good management practices."

Arctic National Wildlife Refuge: The President's budget assumes the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge's Coastal Plain will be leased to oil companies for $7 billion, revisiting a plan rejected by Congress each year its been offered.

"Our investments need to be in renewable energy sources to boost our economy, not proposing yet another budget that banks on highly speculative and uncertain projections of lease revenues from the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge," said Maribeth Oakes, director of TWS's National Wildlife Refuge Program.

Forest Roads Maintenance Funding: The Forest Service's FY 2009 Budget proposal will eliminate a new $40 million appropriation that goes towards badly-needed and urgent road decommissioning and reclamation. While doling out taxpayers' money for commercial logging as if it grew on trees, this Bush Administration budget has reduced State and Private Forestry funding by a whopping 58 percent, recreation, wildlife and fisheries programs by more than 10 percent and roads, trails and facilities maintenance by 15 percent.

"This proposed budget is a bad seed," Cecilia Clavet, National Forest Program associate at TWS said. "It has no chance to protect our National Forests. No chance to stop the degradation of many sensitive ecosystems, including fish and wildlife habitat and where Americans enjoy recreating."

Bureau of Land Management's Oil and Gas Drilling Program: The president's budget once again makes leasing Bureau of Land Management lands for oil and gas drilling its top priority, funding a $22 million increase in the program. The budget decreases funding for oil shale development by $2 million, instead allocating the savings to the BLM's severely under-funded oil and gas inspection and enforcement program. However, the budget also stipulates that language must be omitted from next year's budget that prohibits the BLM from holding a commercial oil shale lease sale. The budget also proposes a public land sale program anticipated to generate $170 million over five years while only asking for a paltry $4 million for BLM land acquisition.

"The BLM's budget is a mixed bag," said David Alberswerth, TWS's senior policy advisor on the BLM. "While it finally institutionalizes the National Landscape Management System, it also maintains the BLM's oil and gas program as its highest priority, and once again proposes a BLM land sales program which was dead on arrival last year."

Land and Water Conservation Fund: Despite the President's promise to fully fund the popular Land and Water Conservation Fund, the blueprint released today extends the pattern of deep cuts to the program seen in previous Bush Administration budgets. In FY2008, LWCF received $154 million. For FY2009, the Administration reduced that by more than $110 million to approximately $41.5 million. LWCF is authorized by Congress to receive up to $900 million annually.

"In 2001, the President declared at a White House photo-op in Birmingham, Alabama, that he would fully fund LWCF and that 'it's a high priority for me,'" Maribeth Oakes, TWS's acting appropriations director, said. "In 2008, his budget proposal will be one of the lowest appropriations in the 44 year history of the LWCF. This request represents a 'historic broken promise' by the President to all Americans who care about parks, forests, wildlife and open space."

Forest Legacy Program: The President's budget proposal of $12.5 million for the Forest Legacy Program recommends a $40 million cut from FY2008's funding level of $52 million. The popular program assists states in conserving threatened private forestlands through public acquisition or purchase of development rights. A recent USDA Forest Service report, National Forests on the Edge, projected that over 40 million acres of private forestlands will be developed by 2030, with significant impacts on water and other ecological resources.

"The President's budget ignores the USDA Forest Service's 3rd report in three years, the 'National Forest on the Edge' report, which documents the threat of rampant urban sprawl and its negative impact on our watersheds, forests, wildlife and National Forests," Maribeth Oakes, TWS's acting appropriations director, said. "The President has literally turned his back on this program and the recommendations of the Forest Service."

National Wildlife Refuges: The President's budget once again falls short of recommending the funds needed to adequately maintain the National Wildlife Refuge System. The President's budget request of $434 million does not take into account annual inflation costs, which will cost the system nearly $15 million. Without steady and incremental progress toward the relatively modest goal of $765 million, the Refuge System will be increasingly unable to properly administer its nearly 100 million acres, host educational nature programs for schoolchildren and restore degraded wildlife habitat.

"We look to Congress to again display the leadership that will secure the $514 million in FY 2009 needed to restore the commitment first made to America's wildlife by Teddy Roosevelt more than 100 years ago," Maribeth Oakes, director of the TWS's National Wildlife Refuge Program, said. "This money is needed to help reinvigorate our 548 wildlife refuges throughout our country."

Bureau of Land Management's National Landscape Conservation System: The National Landscape Conservation System is comprised of BLM's lands and waters designated for conservation by Congress and the President, including Wilderness, National Monuments and other special places. The President's budget for the National Landscape Conservation System represents a needed $3 million increase over requested fiscal year 2008 levels, though still $3 million below last year's enacted level. The Conservation System has also received a more transparent budget through the addition of a budget category for the System's National Monuments and National Conservation Areas, improving managers' ability to plan for and track funding for these special places.

"The BLM's National Landscape Conservation System includes many of the West's most spectacular landscapes, and we're glad to see that System protection is becoming more of a priority," said TWS's Public Lands Associate John Garder.