WASHINGTON-
A program that protects more than a million acres of trails, wilderness and historic sites in the West would see another cut under President Bush’s proposed 2008 budget.
The funding request, delivered to Congress Monday, is among the lowest since the National Landscape Conservation System was created in June 2000 to protect special landmarks not under the National Park Service.
The Democratic-controlled Congress is expected to make significant changes in the budget. But environmentalists and lawmakers still fumed Tuesday that Bush’s proposal would mean less money for rangers, archaeologists and maintenance for the conservation system.
Bush’s budget would cut funding to the program to $49.2 million from $53.2 million.
“The cuts to the National Landscape Conservation System are definitely the wrong way to go,” said Natalie Luna, spokeswoman for Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., who pledged to reverse the cut.
“This is something we’re going to be taking a hard look at,” added Jason Vasquez, a spokesman for Rep. Mary Bono, R-Calif.
A Bureau of Land Management spokeswoman could not immediately be reached for comment Tuesday afternoon.
The Clinton administration created the conservation system under the BLM in response to concern about the rapid loss of open space in the West. The system includes national monuments, such as Utah’s Grand Staircase-Escalante and Colorado’s Canyons of the Ancients, as well as national historic trails, wild and scenic rivers and other specially designated wild areas.
Environmental watchdogs say that since 2000, visitor numbers has skyrocketed at some locations, while rangers at others have scrambled to prevent damage from off-road vehicles or vandalism to ancient American Indian artifacts.
Advocates say the system needs at least $20 million more. They argued it should be treated the same as the National Park Service, which would get a big boost under Bush’s budget this year.
“I am delighted the national parks are getting a well-deserved increase,” said Wendy VanAsselt of the Wilderness Society. “I appreciate this is a time of tough budgets, but I still see an emphasis on oil and gas rather than conservation. It would be great if the conservation system was seen as a priority.”
