Bush budget cuts funding, promotes the sale of public lands

A new $2.9 trillion federal budget package, announced by the Bush administration on Feb. 5, includes massive cuts to programs that protect land, water and wildlife and a controversial proposal to sell public lands in order to pay down the federal deficit. The proposal aims to direct the sale of over 950 million acres of Bureau of Land Management (BLM) lands over the next 10 years. Seventy percent of the estimated $334 million in land sales would go directly to the US Treasury. The President's Forest Service budget also includes a proposal to sell off up to 300,000 acres of National Forest lands, projected to be worth an estimated $800 million. Similar Forest Service and BLM proposals announced last year met with strong and widespread opposition from hunters, environmentalists, businesses and both Democratic and Republican members of Congress. House Interior Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Norm Dicks (D-WA) pronounced the proposal "dead on arrival." "It's a sad commentary that the administration would completely ignore the overwhelming opposition that its misguided land sell-offs created last year by releasing a nearly identical proposal," said Michael Francis, National Forest program director at the Wilderness Society. "The American people do not want their lands sold off to remedy the administration's poor fiscal decisions." The budget also calls once again for oil drilling in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, a plan that, under the Democratic Congress, may have as much hope as the proposed land sales. On a positive note, the budget includes an increase in funds for the National Park System of $258 million, 14.3 percent over 2006 levels. Some, however, are skeptical of the plan, which includes a call for $100 million per year in donations from the public, friends groups and corporations for Bush's "Centennial Challenge" parks plan. "While many Americans value the role of private philanthropy in supporting our national park system, the administration's increasing reliance on the private sector in this capacity is troubling," said Rep. Nick Rahall (D-WV), chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee. Still, the proposed budget increase was applauded by parks advocates who say it is a much-needed boost for a park system straining to provide services for 270 million visitors a year. While the New York Times characterized Bush as showing his "inner Teddy Roosevelt" for his move in protecting the National Park System, the comparison falls flat in terms of the conservation proposals in the new budget plan. The Land and Water Conservation Fund, which provides money to federal and state governments for the protection of land, water and wetlands, was cut nearly $85 million below 2006 levels, about a 60 percent cut. The budget proposal also drastically reduces the funds for protecting endangered species. It includes a $5.5 million cut to the Endangered Species Recovery Program and a $14.1 million cut in the Forest Service's Wildlife and Fisheries Habitat and Management Program. It also eliminates a $29 million program that provides support for private land owners willing to set aside part of their lands for endangered species protection. The National Wildlife Refuge System, already facing a $2.5 billion budget backlog, received only a small increase in the administration's budget, leaving the refuge system more than $55 million behind the inflation adjusted 2004 funding level. "Overall, the system is losing a fifth of its staff. Across the country refuges are eliminating active outreach, visitor programs, habitat maintenance, wildlife restoration and education programs. Without more funding the refuge system will not be able to fulfill its vital mission to conserve our nation's fish, wildlife and their habitats," said Rappaport Clark executive vice president of Defenders of Wildlife, who served as director of the US Fish and Wildlife Service during the Clinton administration. Despite promises of energy conservation in the State of the Union address, the new budget also contains a 40 percent cut in funds to Amtrak, a 12 percent cut to the EPA's Energy Star program and an 18 percent cut to the Department of Energy's energy efficiency programs.