Highlights
- Overall funding for environmental programs was increased by $1.1 billion over last year’s enacted level and nearly $2 billion over the President’s Budget request.
- National Wildlife Refuges received a significant increase ($56 million over the president's budget);
- A new program has been structured for the Forest Service, receiving $65 million, to address roads that are negatively impacting watersheds;
- An additional $10 million in funding was provided for BLM’s National Landscape Conservation System;
- $206 million was provided for the Land and Water Conservation Fund (federal and state combined) plus $62 million for the Forest Legacy Program.
“This was a markedly different bill than we’ve seen come out of the House subcommittee in years,” said Sarah Neimeyer, budget and appropriations director at The Wilderness Society. “Funding has been increased or restored for a number of key programs. This increase in funding will help ensure much stronger protection for our public lands, our wildlife, and the places Americans value for recreation and clean air and water.”
Conservation Funding
Land and Water Conservation Fund
The Land and Water Conservation Fund’s (LWCF) provides funding for acquisition of land for our national parks, wildlife refuges, forests, monuments, and other federal lands, and to states for the acquisition of open space and the creation of parks. The House proposed $155.5 million for the LWCF Federal land acquisition, an increase of $41 million over FY07 enacted.
The proposed funding for the LWCF state grants program was $50 million, an increase of $22 million over FY07 enacted.
“Conservation funding has been in decline for nearly a decade, so the House’s recommendations are a much-needed step in the right direction,” said The Wilderness Society’s Sarah Neimeyer. “These critical and enormously popular programs conserve America's great public lands, fish, and wildlife, and protect our environment and public health.”
Forest Legacy Program
The Forest Legacy program, which provides matching funding to help states and private landowners conserve private forests threatened by development, received $62.7 million in the House funding proposal, an increase of $5.3 million over FY 07 enacted and an increase of $33.7 million over the FY08 request. For FY08, 41 states requested a total of $192 million in Forest Legacy funding for 82 forest conservation projects around the nation. Ninety-six bi-partisan Members of Congress signed a letter earlier in the year requesting $100 million for this program.
“We look forward to working with the subcommittee to continue to increase funding to help protect even more forests from development,” said Tom Gilbert, director of Eastern forest conservation for The Wilderness Society.
Bureau of Land Management
National Landscape Conservation System
The committee is restoring $10 million in needed funding for the BLM’s National Landscape Conservation System to bring the System’s funding closer to historic levels at $59 million. The President’s request of $49 million for BLM’s Conservation System is the lowest request since the System’s inception and would have jeopardized the invaluable cultural and natural resources in BLM’s most spectacular lands and waters.
“The lands in BLM’s National Landscape Conservation System are under tremendous pressure from vandalism and reckless off-road vehicle use, so the restoration of funding is a crucially important step toward the appropriate protection of these American treasures,” said The Wilderness Society’s John Garder. “These urgently needed funds will help BLM provide more adequate visitor education, law enforcement, and other resources to protect and restore our magnificent Western lands.”
Fish and Wildlife Service
Refuges
The House Appropriations committee provides the National Wildlife Refuge System with a $56 million increase above the President’s request of $396 million and a 14 % increase over the 2007 fiscal year enacted levels. The much needed increase will bring refuge funding for FY08 to $451 million, which puts the Refuge System funding at pace with where the program would be if previous Congresses had adjusted for inflation. The increase will allow the Refuge System to resume many of the operations and maintenance projects that were put on hold due to inadequate funding. In addition, failure to adequately fund the Refuge system led to the loss of approximately 300 staff positions to date; nearly another 300 positions are slated for elimination. The increased funding is a first step in halting some of these personnel losses.
“Our nation had the foresight to establish these sanctuaries to conserve fish and wildlife,” said Maribeth Oakes, who directs the Wilderness Society’s Wildlife Refuge Program. “The committee’s increase reflects the stewardship that is needed to protect these special places for future generations.”
Forest Service
National Forest System
The House of Representatives is moving in the right direction by introducing a new program with substantial funding for repairing roads in sensitive watersheds. The House is also providing small increases in funding for such important programs as Recreation and Fish and Wildlife. On the other hand, this bill funds the timber program at a higher level than the administration's recommended funding level. Since 2000, the timber program has received close to $100 million more in funding. Given that recreation is the most common form of use of our national forests, increases should be focused on programs that foster recreation, such as Recreation, Wilderness and Heritage, Wildlife and Fish Management, and Urban and Community Forestry.
"The Forest Service should be directed to end all new permanent road-building until it has made progress in reducing the multi-billion dollar roads maintenance backlog," said Cecilia Clavet from The Wilderness Society's National Forest Program, adding that "the new watershed initiative is a great place to start."
Wildland Fire
Forest Service programs that assist communities in building capacity to prepare for wildland fire received slight increases in the House Interior Appropriations bill. Overall, State Fire Assistance and Community Fire Assistance received an increase of more than $5 million from last year, but most of that was in the Volunteer Fire Assistance program. State Fire Assistance remains funded essentially at last year’s levels - $79 million. Although a significant increase ($11.2 million) over the President’s request, the State Fire Assistance program is still critically underfunded. State foresters estimate an 85% increase is needed to meet needs on the ground.
National Park Service
The Park Service got a major boost in funding thanks to the House Interior subcommittee. The agency received an increase of $228 million above FY 07, which will help the Service increase the numbers of park rangers. The additional funding over the Administration’s request will also facilitate land acquisition inside and outside park boundaries, an important step toward long term protection for these special places.
