Defenders Says White House Budget Shortchanges Conservation

A bipartisan and historic commitment was made at the end of the 106th Congress when a six-year dedicated conservation trust fund was established to provide funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund and other important programs that protect wildlife, habitat, cultural treasures, support recreation and conserve fragile ocean and coastal resources. Yet just as it did last year, the Administration’s budget proposes to slash its authorized 2003 level by $250 million, reneging on the historic commitment to conservation’s future, while engaging in a budgetary shell game in order to hide its handiwork.

In a new edition of the bait-and-switch ruse from last year, the Administration is again using the dedicated conservation fund deal to claim that it is meeting the campaign pledge to fully fund the Land and Water Conservation Fund at its authorized $900 million level. In reality, little more than half, or $486 million, would go for authorized LWCF purposes such as acquisition of land in our National Wildlife Refuges, Parks, and Forests and state purchase of open space.

This amount is $88 million less than last year and $175 million less than the amount requested for LWCF for FY 2003 by a coalition of environmental organizations. In reality, the remainder of these so-called LWCF funds are simply some of the other grant programs already included under the dedicated conservation fund. The Administration is taking credit for fully funding LWCF simply by renaming other already existing programs. Unfortunately, this practice was initiated last year in response to a in response to a request from the Administration – now the Administration is further eroding LWCF by continuing this practice with even more programs.

The Administration has also announced a badly needed and historical increase for the operations and maintenance of the National Wildlife Refuge System – our nation’s only federal lands system dedicated to the conservation of wildlife and wildlife habitat. Unfortunately, this is not a true increase for conservation - this budget robs Peter to pay Paul. It appears that funding for about half of the increase is being diverted from needed land acquisition for the Refuge System, further proof that the LWCF "full funding" claim is false.

Funding for LWCF land acquisition needs to be increased, not decreased.

LWCF is one of the greatest tools we have to address the increasingly severe problem of loss of open space, forests, and wildlife habitat. Just from 1992-1997 the national rate of development doubled to 3 million acres per year - once this land is lost, it can never be recovered.

The Administration is proposing funding for a vaguely defined new "Cooperative Conservation Initiative," yet the Fish and Wildlife Service does not have the funding it needs for core activities to implement the Endangered Species Act. The Administration’s request falls $15 million short of the amount needed to make progress on listing more than 250 species that are waiting for protection under the Act. Funding to recover endangered species also falls short – at least 40 currently listed species could become extinct even though protected under the Act due to the lack of recovery funding. At the same time, the Administration is slashing funding for the State and Tribal Wildlife grants program that provides funding to states to protect species before they need the protection of the Endangered Species Act.

A more detailed background on concerns with the budget follows:

Dedicated Conservation Fund: Reneging on a Historic Commitment

At the end of the 106th Congress, the work of numerous members of Congress, Administration officials, and thousands of conservation, environmental and recreation interests across the country culminated in the greatest piece of conservation funding legislation enacted in our lifetimes. This historic bipartisan deal set aside a total of $12 billion over a 6 year period, from 2001 to 2006 to fund an array of important programs – including the Land and Water Conservation Fund – that protect open space, wildlife habitat, wildlands, wildlife and cultural treasures; support recreation; and protect fragile ocean and coastal areas. The fund is dedicated and protected for these purposes, split off into its own separate budget category. The fund started out at $1.6 billion and is slated for 10% increases each year to reach a total of $2.4 billion in Fiscal Year 2006. As it ramps up to its full level in FY 2006, the fund is large enough to fully fund the Land and Water Conservation Fund and provide significant levels of funding for the other important programs under its umbrella. The Administration’s budget cuts this historic program by $250 million below its authorized FY 2003 level of $1.92 billion.

The Administration’s budget request also erodes the original purpose of the fund by:

• cutting existing programs such as the Land and Water Conservation Fund by $88 million, State and Tribal Wildlife Grants by $25 million, and the Cooperative Endangered Species Fund by $5 million and zeroing out the Urban Parks and Recreation Recovery program;
• substantially increasing the level in the fund for federal lands maintenance – originally intended to be complementary to the amounts provided for maintenance under regular appropriations;
• adding the new $100 million Cooperative Conservation Initiative; and
• adding in the Forest Stewardship program at $50 million, formerly funded under Forest Service Operations.

A Good Start Falls Short for Wildlife Refuges

The National Wildlife Refuge System is an American treasure that will pass a landmark when it celebrates its 100th anniversary in 2003. Defenders and a number of other organizations have called for more than doubling the Refuge System’s budget to a total of $700 million so that it has the funds to carry out its mission as it embarks on its second century of wildlife conservation. Taken on its own, the $56.5 million level, an historic 17.7% increase, is a great start to this goal. But in addition to the fact that part of it appears to be coming out of LWCF, more than half of the increase will go to maintenance. The bulk of the need is for operations funding to address protection of wildlife, management and restoration of wildlife habitat, public outreach and visitor services, and a crippling 38% staff shortage - nearly 200 refuges have no staff on site. At its FY 2002 funding level, needed operations increases are five times greater than needed maintenance increases. In addition, only $12 million of the $25.8 million increase in operations will go for high priority staffing and mission critical projects; yet the total unmet need is $315 million.

Adequate funds for land acquisition are just as important for the Refuge System to meet its conservation mission and the mandate of the 1997 National Wildlife Refuge System Improvement Act "to contribute to the conservation of the ecosystems of the United States...." According to a recent report by The Conservation Fund entitled "Land and Water Conservation Fund: An Assessment of Its Past, Present and Future," the Fish and Wildlife Service has a backlog of needed acquisitions that totals $3.1 billion in funding.

Shortchanging Endangered Species

The Administration has requested $125.7 million – level funding for the Fish and Wildlife Service core endangered species program. This amount falls far short of the $275 million recommended for FY 2003 by environmental organizations.

The Fish and Wildlife Service does not have the funding to complete action on the more than 250 species that are currently candidates for protection – listing – under the Endangered Species Act. Last year, the Service estimated that it needs $120 million or $24 million per year over a five-year period just to process the current backlog of needed listings and critical habitat designations. This amount does not account for the more than 5000 species scientists estimate likely need the Act’s protection. Yet the Administration has requested just $9 million for listing. Species in needs of protection include the southern Rocky Mountains population of the boreal toad, the Washington ground squirrel, the wolverine, and the New England cottontail rabbit.

At the same time the Fish and Wildlife Service is desperately short of funding needed to recover species. At least 40 currently listed species could become extinct even though protected because there is not enough funding for needed recovery actions. These include the Washington pygmy rabbit, the Mississippi Gopher frog, Attwater’s prairie chicken, the Florida panther, the masked bobwhite quail, and a number of Hawaiian birds and plants.

And while the Administration is proposing inadequate funding to protect imperilled species, the State and Tribal Wildlife grants program under the dedicated conservation fund is being slashed by $25 million. This critical program funnels money to the states and tribes for comprehensive wildlife and habitat conservation plans and strategically targeted work on declining species before they need protection under the Endangered Species Act. Environmental organizations have recommended a total of $150 million for this program for FY 2003, an increase of $75 million.

Cooperative Conservation Initiative Slim on Specifics

The Administration is proposing $100 million for a new Cooperative Conservation Initiative while mandated actions and current programs are crying for funds. While this initiative seems potentially innovative in concept, it is vaguely defined and should not be funded at the expense of mandated activities and existing programs. The $100 million for the Cooperative Conservation Initiative is nearly as much as the $125.7 million proposed for the Fish and Wildlife Service core endangered species program accounts. The endangered species program is in desperate need of funding, yet the request falls far short of the need. In addition, half of the funding for the Initiative is ostensibly through the LWCF State program, but does not appear to be directed to authorized LWCF uses such as state acquisition of open space.

Boosting Oil and Gas Development on Our Public Lands

Under the Bureau of Land Management, the Administration is requesting a $10.2 million increase to expand energy and mineral development on our public lands including expedited permitting and increased leasing, energy related rights of way, and further development on Alaska’s North Slope – including plans for drilling in the pristine Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. The Administration’s budget also includes assumptions of receipts from lease sales in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in 2004. The Administration is also requesting a $14 million increase for Bureau of Land Management Land Use Plans, some of which are for national conservation areas, but some for "nationally significant energy development areas."

Giveaway in Our National Forests

The Forest Service budget includes a damaging "pilot charter forest legislative proposal that establishes forests or portions or forests as separate entities, outside of the National Forest System structure and reporting to a local trust entity for oversight." This is nothing more than a devolution or giveaway of portions of our National Forests, irreplaceable forest ecosystems that belong to all American people. The budget also includes a timber sales offer level of 2 billion board feet, a substantial increase from1.4 billion board feet in recent years. This reflects a return to the timber targets of the Reagan years when politicians set logging levels that had no basis in science; it is also is a clear departure from the practice of recent years to manage for the health and sustainability of the land – with outputs a byproduct of good land management, not a goal in and of themselves. Moreover the Forest Service budget relies on heavy subsidies to meet these unsustainable harvest goals.

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