OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: October 4, 1999

Stephanie Hanna (O) 202/208-6416
Tim Ahern 202/208-5089

BABBITT CALLS FOR LANDS LEGACY FUNDING THIS YEAR

The fight to increase funding for state and federal land purchases through Lands Legacy will be the subject of a media briefing by Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt and John Berry, Assistant Secretary for Policy, Management and Budget on Monday, October 4.

"I have been traveling around the country talking to Americans about land conservation in their communities and they want the Land Legacy initiative to be funded in this year's FY 2000 budget." Babbitt said. "They want more parks and recreation areas, more wildlife habitat, they want to save Civil War and Revolutionary War battlefields before they fall under the bulldozers of development and they want to set aside buffer lands to combat urban sprawl."

Lands Legacy would be funded by an annual $900 million appropriation from the Land & Water Conservation Fund (LWCF). This fund was created by Congress in 1965 for states and the federal government to purchase conservation lands. It is derived from a portion of the offshore oil and gas receipts resulting from oil production in federal waters. The Land Legacy initiative would divide the annual appropriation equally between state grants and federal land acquisition.

"This money could become available to state governments this Fall at no taxpayer expense simply by using an existing fund with vast unfunded balances for the purpose it was created," Babbitt added. Several bills have been introduced in Congress to fully fund annual LWCF appropriations.

Since the 1980's, appropriations from the LWCF have drastically declined and no money has been appropriated for state land conservation. Materials available at Monday's briefing will show, on a state-by-state basis, specific projects and unmet conservation needs by states. There will also be video and still satellite images prepared by the U.S. Geological Survey showing the impact of sprawl on many of America's major cities.

Materials from the press conference will be available on Interiors Office of Intergovernmental Affairs web site beginning later in the afternoon of October 4. The Lands Legacy web site address is http://www.doi.gov/iga/landslegacy.htm.

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