A key ingredient to protecting America's public lands is ensuring that adequate federal funds are devoted towards priority public lands needs -- whether from yearly appropriations in Congress, or other legislation to fund long-term conservation programs, like the Land and Water Conservation Fund.
Interior Appropriations
Each year, federal land management agencies receive funding from Congress through an Interior Appropriations bill. Our perennial challenge is to ensure that agencies receive adequate funding to manage the lands they administer, that funding is prioritized for resource protection, as opposed to harmful resource extraction, and that unrelated "riders" are not added to this legislation.
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Land and Water Conservation Fund
In 1964, Congress created the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF). It was a simple idea: use federal revenues from offshore oil and gas receipts for the purchase of land and water to support creation of national and community parks, forests, wildlife refuges, and open spaces to guarantee outdoor recreation opportunities and a clean environment.
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>> Learn more about LWCF projects proposed for FY 2007
Conservation Funding
The Land Conservation, Preservation, and Infrastructure Improvement (LCPII) fund, established in 2000, was designed to address threats facing our nation's natural and cultural heritage -- loss of open space, wildlife habitat, wildlands, and cultural treasures threatened by urban sprawl and development. The fund provides monies for LWCF and other conservation spending through FY06, but requires yearly appropriations from Congress.
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Wildland Fire Management
In the last five years, over $14 billion has been appropriated to the National Fire Plan (NFP). During this time of large federal deficits and increasing pressure to re-examine federal budget priorities, the question must be asked whether these taxpayer dollars have promoted safer communities and more resilient ecosystems. Suppression costs have skyrocketed of late, with the Forest Service’s fire suppression costs exceeding $1 billion in four of the last seven years. These escalating costs threaten to consume the Forest Service’s entire discretionary budget. Wildland fire management activities (the largest component of which is suppression) rose from 13% of the agency’s budget in fiscal year 1991 to a staggering 45% projected for fiscal year 2008.
>> More about FY 2008 Approprations
