Conservation Lands Foundation Applauds Congress for Investments in National Conservation Lands

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 11, 2022

Contact: Kris Deutschman, [email protected], 970-670-0193

CONSERVATION LANDS FOUNDATION APPLAUDS CONGRESS FOR INVESTMENTS IN NATIONAL CONSERVATION LANDS

Washington, D.C. - Yesterday Conservation Lands Foundation released the following statement in response to Congress passing the Fiscal Year 2022 Appropriations bill, which includes increased investments in the National Conservation Lands. The bill now heads to President Biden’s desk for his signature.

The bill includes $49.274 million for the Bureau of Land Management so that the agency can better care for and manage the system of National Conservation Lands. That’s a 7.5% increase in funding from the previous year. With this funding, the Bureau of Land Management will be able to:

• Create more jobs within the Bureau of Land Management to improve public lands management.
• Inventory, monitor and protect Indigenous and other cultural resources against vandalism and other threats.
• Restore fish and wildlife habitat after years of neglect.
• Improve visitor experience, recreational infrastructure and rural economic recovery.
• Reclaim degraded lands and waters for climate change mitigation.

Below are quotes from Conservation Lands Foundation marking this moment:

David Feinman, Government Affairs Director
“This increase in federal funding for National Conservation Lands is a victory for the grassroots advocacy efforts that helped catalyze Congressional action. National Conservation Lands represent our nation’s natural, cultural, and outdoor heritage, and proper funding will help ensure these places are better managed for all of the values they hold. We thank Congress for approving this investment in our public lands and the agency that manages them and we look forward to building off this investment in the years ahead.”

Jim Kenna, Board Member, and Former Bureau of Land Management California State Director
“The Bureau of Land Management manages the largest, most diverse and scientifically important body of cultural, historical, and paleontological resources of any federal land management agency. Never in the agency’s history has it had sufficient resources to adequately address the conservation requirements of its mission under law. While this funding isn’t nearly enough to meet that standard, it’s a start and is headed in the right direction. I’m glad to see Congress reinvesting in public lands and the Bureau of Land Management so the agency can better care for and manage National Conservation Lands. The Friends Grassroots Network of the Conservation Lands Foundation, a coalition of nearly 80 groups across the country, has been providing the community-level leadership that makes this kind of investment so effective.”

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About Conservation Lands Foundation

Conservation Lands Foundation leads the only national movement of grassroots advocates to protect, restore and expand National Conservation Lands. CLF is headquartered in Durango, Colorado with field offices throughout the West and in Washington, D.C. For more information, visit conservationlands.org.