Environmentalists are optimistic over the future of land conservation in the U.S., after President Obama proposed that the federal government spent $420 million next year to buy land for national parks, forests and refuges, and for parks and recreation projects; and that the annual amount be raised to $900 million within five years. The proposed increase, combined with lower land prices, has many pushing Congress to appropriate the funds.
"Property values are not today what they were a year ago," said Alan Front, senior vice president of the Trust for Public Land. "Every dollar that is invested in the Land and Water Conservation Fund probably buys a little bit more habitat, a little bit more recreational trail, a little bit more scenic vista than it bought a year ago."
Richard Simon of the Los Angeles Times notes that, of the $171 million allocated to the Land and Water Conservation Fund this year, "the amount earmarked for National Park Service purchases was a third of what it was a decade ago." The appointment of Ken Salazar, who supported conservation funding as a senator from Colorado, as interior secretary, has many hopeful that this trend will be reversed. (Read more)
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