Downloaded from the National Library for the Environment
spacer.gif

The Administration's Lands Legacy Initiative in the FY2001
Budget Proposal - A Fact Sheet

Jeffrey A. Zinn

Senior Analyst in Natural Resources Policy Resources,
Science, and Industry Division

February 14, 2000

RS20471

Summary

The fact sheet compares the FY2001 funding request for the Administration's Lands Legacy Initiative to the FY2000 request and the enacted FY2000 appropriation.

The Clinton Administration's FY2001 budget proposal called the Lands Legacy Initiative combines requests for increased funding in numerous programs for land acquisition and natural resource protection. These programs are administered by agencies in the Departments of the Interior, Agriculture, and Commerce. Many, but not all of these programs are already authorized, and most of these requests are for increased funding.

The Clinton Administration first announced its Lands Legacy Initiative in January 1999, when it sought funding totaling just over $1 billion in the FY 2000 budget, an increase of $571 million for these programs from FY1999. Congress provided $727 million, an increase of $268 million. The Administration is seeking an additional $673 million for FY2001, so that funding would total $1.4 billion for this initiative. The FY2001 budget request would provide $735 million to the Department of the Interior, $429 million to the Department of Commerce, and $236 million to the Department of Agriculture. A slightly different mix of programs is proposed in the FY2001 request. The table on the next page compares, by program, the FY2000 request, FY2000 appropriated amounts, and the Administration's FY2001 request.

The 106th Congress also has been considering several related legislative proposals, ranging from authorizing the entire Initiative to more modest proposals adopting parts of the Administration proposal or funding a different mix of programs. The House Resources Committee has approved one of these proposals, H.R. 701. (For information on the Land and Water Conservation Fund, the major source of federal land acquisition funds, see CRS Report 97-792 ENR, Land and Water Conservation Fund: Current Status and Issues, to learn about legislative proposals, see a forthcoming CRS report. Resource Protection and Recreation: A Comparison of H.R. 701 (amended) and S. 25 with Current Law, and for information on congressional deliberations, see IB 10015, Conserving Land Resources; Legislative Proposals in the 106th Congress.)

 

Land Legacy Funding Allocations (in millions)

Agency/Program FY2000 Request FY2000 Approp. FY2001 Request
BLM Land Acquisition (LWCF) $46 $40 $61
FWS Land Acquisition (LWCF) 74 54 112
NPS Land Acquisition (LWCF) 172 155 147
Land Acquisition, Unspecified Interior Agencies (LWCF) 0 20 0
NPS State Land Acquisition Grants (LWCF) 150 41 150
USGS State Planning Partnerships 50 0 50
FWS State Non-Game Wildlife Grants 0 0 100
FWS North American Wetlands Conservation Fund 15 15 30
FWS Cooperative Endangered Species Conservation Fund 80 23 65
NPS Urban Parks & Recreation Recovery Grants 4 2 20
FS Land Acquisition 118 156 130
FS Forest Legacy 50 30 60
FS Urban & Community Forestry 40 31 40
FS Smart Growth Partnerships 10 0 6
NOAA Coastal Management Program 90 59 152
NOAA Pollution Runoff Grants 0 3 5
NOAA Coral Reef Conservation 10 6 15
NOAA National Marine Sanctuaries 29 25 35
NOAA Estuarine Research Reserves 19 12 20
NOAA Pacific Salmon Recovery Fund 0 58 100
NOAA Coastal Impact Assistance Fund 0 0 100
TOTAL1 $1,0302 $727 $1,400

BLM - Bureau of Land Management
LWCF - Land and Water Conservation Fund
NOAA - National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
USGS - U.S. Geological Survey
FS-U.S. Forest Service
FWS - U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
NPS - National Park Service

Footnotes

1 Numbers may not add exactly to total, due to rounding.

2 The FY 2000 request included additional three programs - with a total request of $85 million - that have been dropped in the FY2001 request and are therefore not listed on the table; the Farmland Protection Program in USDA, and the Coastal Dredge Area Restoration and Fisheries Habitat Restoration Programs in NOAA. The Administration moved the farmland program to the Farm Safety Net Initiative in its FY2001 Department of Agriculture budget proposal.