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WASHINGTON, D.C. — The recently signed $32.2 billion Department of Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act of 2010 included generous appropriations for battlefield preservation and the National Park Service (NPS), among others.
On Oct. 30 President Obama signed the bill, which put $9 million in the Civil War Battlefield Preservation Program financed through the Land and Water Conservation Fund and awarded by the NPS American Battlefield Protection Program.
According to the Civil War Preservation Trust, the $9 million is the largest ever single-year allocation for the Civil War Battlefield Preservation Program. The program was reauthorized in March as part of the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009 for $10 million a year for five years. It enjoyed bipartisan support, with 33 cosponsors in the Senate and 108 in the House.
In a press release CWPT President James Lighthizer said, “Each day 30 acres of hallowed Civil War battlefield ground are paved over and lost forever. This money will allow us to preserve historic land that would otherwise be lost to development and urban sprawl.”
According to the CWPT the Civil War Battlefield Preservation Program, since its creation in 1999, has been used to protect more than 15,000 acres at 60 battlefields in 14 states.
The $32.2 billion appropriations bill gave the National Park Service $2.7 billion, $218 million above the 2009 funding level. According to the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA), $2.2 billion, or $130 million above the 2009 funding level, went to park service operations. The NPS portion of the Land and Water Conservation Fund received $126.26 million, an increase of $61 million and $28 million above the President’s request.
“The NPS is now better able to hire more rangers, fill out the authorized boundaries of many parks, enhance its ability to address the impacts of climate change on our national parks, and preserve America’s Everglades, Great Lakes, and other nationally-significant ecosystems,” said an NPCA statement.
The bill also included:
• $15 million for the Park Partnership Grants Program
• $4.6 million for the National Park Service’s Preserve America Grants
• $5.908 million for the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation
• $79.5 million for the Historic Preservation Fund that includes state and tribal historic preservation offices and $25 million for Save America’s Treasures
• $16.805 million for National Heritage Areas
The joint conference committee that finalized the bill focused on five priority areas: water infrastructure and environmental protection needs, firefighting and fuels reduction on federal lands, bolstering public land management agencies, protecting public lands through the Land and Water Conservation Fund and helping the most vulnerable in Indian Country.
Among these receiving funding are the National Wildlife Refuge System, U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, National Foundation for the Arts and Humanities and the Smithsonian Institution.
On Oct. 30 President Obama signed the bill, which put $9 million in the Civil War Battlefield Preservation Program financed through the Land and Water Conservation Fund and awarded by the NPS American Battlefield Protection Program.
According to the Civil War Preservation Trust, the $9 million is the largest ever single-year allocation for the Civil War Battlefield Preservation Program. The program was reauthorized in March as part of the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009 for $10 million a year for five years. It enjoyed bipartisan support, with 33 cosponsors in the Senate and 108 in the House.
In a press release CWPT President James Lighthizer said, “Each day 30 acres of hallowed Civil War battlefield ground are paved over and lost forever. This money will allow us to preserve historic land that would otherwise be lost to development and urban sprawl.”
According to the CWPT the Civil War Battlefield Preservation Program, since its creation in 1999, has been used to protect more than 15,000 acres at 60 battlefields in 14 states.
The $32.2 billion appropriations bill gave the National Park Service $2.7 billion, $218 million above the 2009 funding level. According to the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA), $2.2 billion, or $130 million above the 2009 funding level, went to park service operations. The NPS portion of the Land and Water Conservation Fund received $126.26 million, an increase of $61 million and $28 million above the President’s request.
“The NPS is now better able to hire more rangers, fill out the authorized boundaries of many parks, enhance its ability to address the impacts of climate change on our national parks, and preserve America’s Everglades, Great Lakes, and other nationally-significant ecosystems,” said an NPCA statement.
The bill also included:
• $15 million for the Park Partnership Grants Program
• $4.6 million for the National Park Service’s Preserve America Grants
• $5.908 million for the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation
• $79.5 million for the Historic Preservation Fund that includes state and tribal historic preservation offices and $25 million for Save America’s Treasures
• $16.805 million for National Heritage Areas
The joint conference committee that finalized the bill focused on five priority areas: water infrastructure and environmental protection needs, firefighting and fuels reduction on federal lands, bolstering public land management agencies, protecting public lands through the Land and Water Conservation Fund and helping the most vulnerable in Indian Country.
Among these receiving funding are the National Wildlife Refuge System, U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, National Foundation for the Arts and Humanities and the Smithsonian Institution.
