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House panel votes to make Clinton-era conservation plan permanent |
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Written by ERIC BONTRAGER, E&E Daily
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The House Natural Resources Committee cleared a proposal yesterday to make the 26 million-acre National Landscape Conservation System permanent despite objections by Republicans that the legislation was vague.
By a vote of 24-13, the committee passed an amended version of H.R. 2016 by Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.), which would make NLCS a permanent part of the Bureau of Land Management.
Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt established the system during the Clinton administration to protect some of the agency's most ecologically and historically important lands. It includes more than 850 federally recognized areas and approximately 26 million acres.
Grijalva said that the bill was not intended to change how the system is managed but only to ensure that grazing and recreation will continue on those areas by preventing future Interior secretaries from dissolving the system.
Unlike the National Parks and the National Wildlife Refuges, there currently is no guarantee that the NLCS as a whole will exist in the future.
"Congressional authorization will generate awareness and recognition for this amazing collection of Western public lands," Grijalva said.
The conservation system includes the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in Utah, Headwaters Forest Preserve in California, the Las Cienegas National Conservation Area in Arizona and the Lewis and Clark Trail.
Despite the Bush administration's support, several Republicans on the committee attempted to clarify the bill's language.
Rep. Steve Pearce (R-N.M.) introduced several amendments that sought to guarantee that the bill would not impede on other activities such as grazing and alternative energy development.
The sharpened language of his amendments would be a defense against the bill "empowering a whole set of bureaucrats to enforce their own views," Pearce said.
Other lawmakers offered amendments that would have affirmed that the bill would not provide additional funding for NLCS, but those efforts were defeated amid concerns that they could prevent additional funding in the future. Last year's NLCS budget came in at $50 million.
Committee clears bills on marine sanctuaries, species studies
The committee also voted to send eight other bills to the full House, including measures to double the size of two California marine sanctuaries, authorize an integrated oceans observing system and grant funding for the species conservation program on the Lower Colorado River.
H.R. 1187, cleared by voice vote, would double the size of two Northern California marine sanctuaries. It would add about 1,740 nautical square miles to the the Gulf of Farallones and Cordell Bank national marine sanctuaries located north of San Francisco.
The other bills were cleared by unanimous consent. They are:
H.R. 2515 would authorize funding for the Lower Colorado River multi-species conservation program. The 50-year plan is designed to save 27 species by restoring wildlife habitat. Covering a 400-mile stretch of the river, the program aims to create more than 8,100 acres of riparian, marsh and backwater habitat for six federally protected species and 20 others native to the river system.
H.R. 2342 would formally authorize the National Integrated Oceans Observing System. The program is designed to feed data from U.S. coastal waters and the Great Lakes into the Global Earth Observation System of Systems, an international project begun in 2005 to continuously monitor the global environment and improve environmental forecasts.
H.R. 2675 would provide for the conveyance of approximately 140 acres of land in the Ouachita National Forest in Oklahoma to the Indian Nations Council Inc. of the Boy Scouts of America.
H.R. 3352, the "Hydrographic Services Improvement Act Amendments of 2007," would amend the federal statute that governs NOAA's nautical surveys, navigation charts and information on tides and currents. The bill would authorize $953.7 million for the programs between fiscal 2008 and 2012.
H.R. 4933 would make it easier for the Fish and Wildlife Service to enforce a ban on the ownership of tigers, lions, cheetahs and other large cats.
H.R. 3891 would allow the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation to add five more members to its board. Congress established the foundation in 1984 as a nonprofit arm to help invest in fish and wildlife habitat.
H.R. 3651 would require the conveyance of certain public land within the boundaries of Camp Williams, Utah, to support the training and readiness of the Utah National Guard.
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 20 March 2008 )
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