Specifically, the proposal zeroes funding to the North American Wetlands Conservation Act (NAWCA), and reduces funding to the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) to $41 million, the lowest level in its 45-year history.

This level of funding would bring federal conservation efforts to a screeching halt, doing huge and irreparable damage to national parks, forests, and wildlife refuges; battlefields and other historic sites; working ranches and forests; federally-assisted state and local recreation and wildlife protection projects; and other places Americans care about.

Like so many of my fellow citizens, I understand and accept that budget cuts are unavoidable given the growing deficit However, the cuts must be more equitable and consider not just inputs but measurable outputs. Estimates of projected cuts to federal agencies have hovered around 15 percent.

This proposal disproportionately exceeds that for natural resource programs which have sustained our quality of life in South Carolina. Frankly, cutting or eliminating natural resource spending is a political gimmick. The only honest way to reduce the federal deficit is to cut entitlement programs and defense spending.

LWCF is already paid for using a very small percentage of oil drilling receipts. It balances natural resource consumption (offshore oil) by replacing and protecting natural resources. This proposal prevents revenues deposited in the LWCF account from being used for their authorized purposes, and makes them disappear forever.

These funds were a promise made to the American people in 1964. This Congress should not be breaking this long-standing commitment.

NAWCA derives its funding from the sale of duck stamps. The more we hunt, the more we generate funds to secure the refuges that sustain our waterfowl populations, quality of life, and time-honored traditions.

NAWCA is primarily responsible for restoring the duck population from their low level in 1985 to their current abundance.

There are countless incalculable benefits that protected places afford the people of South Carolina.

The list of these great places that have been protected include: The ACE Basin, Cape Romain, Francis Marion National Forest, and the Santee Delta just to name a few.

Our distinguished decision-makers in Washington must not let complacency, political pressure, or this sluggish post-recession economy muddy their thinking.

It is imperative that Congress provide reasonable funding for valuable natural resource programs like NAWCA and LWCF so that our parks and wildlife refuges, which are proven economic engines, can continue to deliver generous returns to local and state economies. Even in World War II and the Great Depression, Congress provided balanced natural resource funding.

I ask all of you who care about nature to write your senators and tell them to cut the deficit fairly and honestly and to not gut funding for NAWCA and LWCF.

Charles G. Lane is the chairman of the ACE Basin Task Force and a former chairman of the South Carolina Conservation Bank Board.