Office of the Secretary

For Immediate Release: April 9, 2001

Contact: Mark Pfeifle or
Joan Moody (202) 208-6416

Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton Announces
Historic Budget for Land & Water Conservation Fund

Washington, D.C. - Secretary of the Interior Gale A. Norton announced today that under the President's Fiscal Year 2002 budget request, the Land & Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) will be funded at the fully authorized level of $900 million for the first time since the fund's inception almost four decades ago. An unprecedented 50 percent of the funds - $450 million -- will go to the states.

"This landmark budget fulfills President Bush's commitment to investing in America's natural resources and provides not only historic levels of funding, but also gives states unprecedented flexibility to use the funding," Norton said in releasing the Department of the Interior's budget request at a press conference in the nation's capital today.

"From national parks in Hawaii to playgrounds in Maine, and from wildlife refuges in the Florida Everglades to recreational areas in Alaska, this budget request brings good news for our special places and helps every state in its efforts to enhance recreation, conserve wildlife habitat and endangered species, and protect wetlands."

The LWCF was created in 1965 to purchase federal and state lands with revenues from oil and gas off-shore production in federal waters. Although annual appropriations of $900 million have been authorized since 1978, annual appropriations from the Fund have been as low as $138 million for federal acquisition and state grants. Congress has rarely appropriated the full authorized level since creation of the Fund, and instead the Fund has supported deficit reduction and creation of the budget surplus. In FY 2001 appropriations, broad bipartisan support in Congress provided for LWCF funding that is "fenced off" from being used for other purposes; however Congress did not fully fund state grants in FY 2001.

The Administration FY 2002 budget request especially boosts state funding. From 1965 to 1995, funding for state grants averaged only $112 million per year. Congress did not appropriate funds at all for state grants from 1996 through 1999. The FY 2002 budget proposal of $450 million for LWCF state grants represents an increase of $359.7 million from the $90.3 million appropriated in 2001.

Besides historic funding, the Administration budget further proposes to give states flexibility to go beyond traditional recreational land purchase and development projects. Under the Department's proposal, states will be able to use grant funds in 2002 for the benefit of wildlife and habitat; the conservation of endangered and threatened species; and the protection, enhancement, and restoration of wetland ecosystems and other habitats for migratory birds and other fish and wildlife.

The FY 2002 budget request proposes two new programs funded from the LWCF that will facilitate local and private conservation efforts by providing landowner incentives and expanded opportunities for private stewardship. The budget proposes $50 million for competitively awarded, cost-shared landowner incentive grants to states, the District of Columbia, territories, and tribes. The program will provide resources to states for voluntary programs like the Texas Private Land Enhancement program, which provides technical assistance to landowners who want to include wildlife considerations in their land use practices. The budget also proposes $10 million for private stewardship grants to support individuals and groups engaged in local, private, and voluntary land and wildlife conservation efforts.

The $259.1 million proposed for federal land acquisition by DOI agencies -- the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), and National Park Service (NPS) -- will support 111 projects in 39 States across the country. The balance of the federal LWCF share - $130.9 million -- is requested by the U.S. Forest Service, an agency of the Department of Agriculture.

The FY 2002 budget request gives priority to projects that use alternative and innovative conservation tools such as easements, purchases of development rights, and land exchanges. In Idaho, for example, approximately 920 acres of private lands containing important public values associated with the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail are part of a proposed exchange of 2,080 acres of public land. At the Lower Salmon River Area of Critical Environmental Concern (ACEC), the BLM requests $2.0 million to acquire 788 acres of conservation easement interests and 110 acres of fee simple interests to protect outstanding scenic and recreational values on the river corridor. BLM has numerous partners and supporters in this effort including the Friends of the Lower Salmon and the Idaho Department of Fish and Game.

The Department is also undertaking significant efforts to ensure that any acquisition has strong support from the local community. The NPS, for example, proposes to acquire 18,600 acres on the Southwest Rift Zone of Mauna Loa for Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. In February 2001, NPS held three days of public hearings on the acquisition and heard from 280 people, who overwhelmingly supported the proposed acquisition.

The 2002 budget request provides funding for other diverse projects such as a total of more than $47 million to protect the Everglades -- including FWS funding to acquire land within four existing wildlife refuges and NPS funding to provide grants to the state of Florida and to fund the Modified Water Project for Everglades Restoration.

A list of state LWCF grants is attached; a state-by-state list of federal LWCF gramts is available on the web at www.doi.gov or from the DOI Office of Communications at 202-208-6416.

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