OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY

CONTACT: Mary Helen Thompson

(202)208-6416

For Immediate Release: February 6, 1997

INTERIOR FY 1998 BUDGET FOCUSES ON THE PRESIDENT’S

CONTINUING COMMITMENT TO PRESERVING THE NATION’S PUBLIC

LANDS AND NATURAL AND CULTURAL RESOURCES

President Clinton’s Fiscal Year 1998 budget of $7.5 billion for the U.S. Department of the Interior represents the administration’s promise to the American people to safeguard and preserve the nation’s public lands and natural and cultural resources within an overall policy framework that leads to a balanced federal budget. While the FY 1998 request represents a modest increase of $462 million or 6.6 percent over the 1997 enacted budget, it stresses sound management practices to insure compliance with the overall goals in the President’s budget to cut the deficit and create a leaner, more efficient federal government.

Wherever possible, the President’s budget promotes the development of creative regional partnerships to resolve conflict and promote new and ongoing national restoration and preservation initiatives. High priority projects include the Florida Everglades, the forests of the Pacific Northwest, the California Bay Delta and the rapidly growing use of innovative Habitat Conservation plans to protect threatened and endangered species. The budget also emphasizes the President’s continuing commitment to greater self-determination and self government for American Indian Tribes.

“This budget is about restoration, preservation and protection,” Babbitt stated. “It is a carefully crafted plan that reflects the President’s deep and abiding commitment to the American public to preserve our lands and natural resources while protecting our children’s economic future.”

“ It also recognizes that the federal government must reach out in order to become a catalyst for meaningful change,” Babbitt continued. “By working hand in hand with state and local governments and the private sector, we can avoid prolonged conflict and develop appropriate solutions for some of the more challenging regional environmental problems.”

Partners in Environmental Progress

The Clinton administration has joined hands with a network of federal, state and local agencies, and environmental and industry groups to develop concrete strategies and consensus solutions to address the complex environmental problems confronting major regional restoration and preservation projects and initiatives.

One of the most significant of these is the effort underway to restore the Everglades and reverse the ecological decline of the South Florida ecosystem. The Clinton administration is requesting $136 million an increase of $79 million over FY 1997, and total government wide funding at $331 million. The establishment of an Everglades Restoration Fund is also a top priority with funding of $100 million proposed in 1998, and each year thereafter until the year 2001.

“This undertaking is, without exaggeration, the most ambitious environmental restoration project in the history of our nation.” Babbitt stated. “It will demand many years of hard work and a rock solid commitment on the part of the federal government, the state of Florida and many, many other public and private groups to salvage the Everglades and enhance the South Florida watershed.”

Another example is the restoration of the largest estuary on the west coast of North America--The California Bay Delta. A consortium of federal, state and local agencies and other parties are developing long-term comprehensive strategies to solve the complex and interrelated problems in the Bay-Delta. The region is critical to California’s economy, providing water to two-thirds of all homes and businesses in the State and irrigating more than four million acres of farmland. The Department’s 1998 Budget includes a total of $203 million for Bay Delta ecosystem restoration funds, an increase of $146 million over the previous year.

The President’s Forest Plan, now into its fifth year of operation, is an ongoing priority for the Clinton Administration. The plan has been a key component in helping state and local governments find a balance preserving old growth forests while allowing the administration to meet its timber harvest production. The 1998 budget funds the Forest Plan at $71 million, an increase of $3 million from the 1997 enacted level.

The Appalachian Clean Streams initiative, a federal, state and local partnership program to restore thousands of miles of Appalachian streams polluted by years of acid mine drainage, is also an example of a program in which a modest expenditure of federal funds can leverage many times that amount from state and local government and industry for an important regional environmental program.

The development of Habitat Conservation Plans (HCPs) to protect threatened and endangered species has been an extraordinary example of how creative partnerships result in successful solutions, protecting species while allowing economic development to proceed. For the period 1983 to 1992 only 14 HCPs were approved. By the end of 1997, the department projects that 300 HCPS will be in place or under development. For planning purposed 400 are expected for 1998. The administration’s budget continues to fund $6 million for land acquisition grants to states to support HCPs.

Preserving the Nation’s Natural and Cultural Resources

Protecting America’s 374 National Parks, 509 wildlife refuges and 264 million acres of public lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management, is a top priority for the Clinton administration.

The President’s FY 1998 budget requests an increase in operating funds for the National Park Service, the Fish and Wildlife Service and the Bureau of Land Management in order to assist these three agencies in meeting both current responsibilities and the significant challenges that lie ahead.

“The funding increases requested will enable Interior’s land management bureaus to improve deteriorating infrastructure and operational conditions in parks, refuges, fish hatcheries and on public lands that threaten the preservation of our priceless natural and cultural resources,” Babbitt stated.

Priority needs at the National Park Service include funding for five new parks created last year, the establishment of the Presidio Trust as a public-private partnership, a Vanishing Treasures initiative that will focus on endangered Native American historic sites on the Colorado Plateau, and start up funds for nine new heritage areas. In addition, the Park Service Budget includes $24.9 million for land acquisition and construction to restore the native anadromous fish on the Elwha River in Olympic National Park.

Continuing work on a sound and workable Endangered Species Act that is flexible enough to adequately protect species while minimizing adverse economic impacts whenever possible is a paramount concern for the Fish and Wildlife Service. Other priorities include improving refuges and wildlife habitats, and expanding recreation and education opportunities for the 29 million people that visit the refuge system each year.

For the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), managing the newly designated Grand Staircase-Escalate National Monument is a top priority, as are badly-needed facility maintenance and infrastructure and trail repairs at high-use recreational sites and areas of cultural importance. With 1996 being the worst fire year in three decades, BLM’s budget also addresses an increased need for fire preparation and management. Working with the Forest Service, the wildland fire management program will place greater emphasis on fuels reduction and prescribed fires as an effective solution to this problem. A $28 million increase is proposed for the Department’s wildland fire management program.

To meet many of these needs and to enhance the visitor experience on public lands, the administration remains committed to providing additional revenue to parks, refuges and public lands through user fees, better collection practices and reform of Park Service concessions. The fee demonstration project authorized by Congress last year is expected to result in over $50 million that will supplement regular appropriations.

The FY 1998 budget requests $1.6 billion for the National Park Service; $688 million for the Fish and Wildlife Service, including $79 million for the Endangered Species Act program; and $1.1 billion for The Bureau of Land Management.

Good Science for Sound Decision Making:

The Interior Department’s premier science agency, the U.S. Geological Survey, continues to carry out scientific research in the natural and biological sciences that contributes to the improvement of the health and welfare of the American people. The FY 1998 Budget for USGS is $745.4 million which will allow the agency to address several new initiatives. One such project is a new national initiative announced by President Clinton last August in Kalamazoo, Michigan which would protect communities from toxic pollution by the year 2000. The USGS will work with other agencies to improve Americans’ right to know about the condition of municipal water supplies in metropolitan communities. Data from major rivers, drinking water wells, and water supply watersheds will be made available to the public through a variety of distribution methods including the World Wide Web.

Other innovative USGS science projects include participation in a global seismic monitoring program; a three year program to

establish historic mapping and modeling databases for several major cities, and additional support for land and resource managers in the area of biological research.

Continuing Support for the Priorities of Indian Tribes

The President’s continuing commitment to tribal self-determination and self-governance is reflected in his 1998 budget for the Bureau of Indian Affairs. This year’s request of $1.7 billion, an increase of $127.0 million over 1997, recognizes the critical needs of the tribes, particularly local reservation programs such as housing repair for needy families, adult vocational training, law enforcement and infrastructure repair as well as additional funds for the 185 schools for Indian children. For the past three years, BIA has kept administrative costs among the lowest in the federal government, consistently providing over 90 percent of the operating budget to education and reservation-based programs. FTEs have been reduced by over 2,500 since 1994.

Reform of Indian trust fund management continues to be a high priority in 1998. The President is requesting $39 million for the Office of the Special Trustee for American Indians with approximately $16.7 million targeted for trust fund management improvements. These improvements will help ensure that the federal government fulfills its responsibilities to properly account for, invest, and maximize the return on all Indian trust money.

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