- March 8, 2012 Coalition Applauds Senate for Dedicated Conservation Funding
- February 13, 2012 Coalition Applauds President's Continued Support for Conservation Funding
- December 17, 2011 Conservation, Business and Sportsmen Groups Applaud Congressional Efforts to Protect LWCF Funding in FY12 Budget
- July 25, 2011- New Bipartisan Poll Shows Overwhelming Support Across America for Land and Water Conservation Fund
- July 13, 2011- National Bipartisan Poll Memo
- May 31, 2011- Over One-Third of the U.S. House of Representatives Sign Letter Supporting Funding for LWCF
- April 14, 2011- Conrad Anchor Testimony Release
- December 20, 2010 - Senate Urged to Join House and Pass Bill with Full Funding for Conservation Program »
- August 3, 2010 - Senate Urged to Join House and Pass Bill with Full Funding for Conservation Program »
- July 15, 2010 - House Committee Passes Bill Securing Funding for Conservation and Recreation Program »
- April 16, 2010 - America's Great Outdoors Conference Focuses on Need for Vital Land, Recreation Funding »
- February 1, 2010 - Obama's Budget Includes Key Funding for Land & Water »
- November 6, 2009 - Senate Bill Would Fulfill Longstanding Promise for Conservation and Recreation Program »
- September 17 , 2009 - Coalition Supports Conservation at House Hearing »
Salazar: Replenish land and water fund
Parks are crucial for jobs in Jackson Hole, Interior Secretary says.
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar answers questions during a hastily-planned public appearance Tuesday in Grand Teton National Park. Salazar touted the job-creating efforts of the National Park Service. BRADLY J. BONER / NEWS&GUIDE
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By Cory Hatch, Jackson Hole, Wyo.
August 24, 2011
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar called on Congress to fully fund the Land and Water Conservation Fund while on a visit to Grand Teton National Park on Tuesday.
Salazar’s comments come after Republican members of the House of Representatives attached riders to an appropriations bill that aim to deplete the conservation fund.
“The proposals that we have coming through the House of Representatives would essentially decimate the Land and Water Conservation Fund to the lowest level we have seen in modern times,” Salazar said at the Craig Thomas Discovery and Visitor Center at Moose.
He is on a family vacation to Grand Teton and Yellowstone national parks.
The funding is crucial to conserve land such as the roughly 1,400 acres of state-owned inholdings in Grand Teton that the National Park Service is slated to purchase over the next several years, Salazar said. The Park Service completed the first transaction, the sale of subsurface mineral rights near Jackson Lake, earlier this year.
“If we are not able to fund those acquisitions, then those lands will be put up for auction to the highest bidder,” he said.
For decades, Congress has plundered the Land and Water Conservation Fund so that it is now owed about $20 billion, Salazar said.
“It’s a broken promise to the American people not to fund it,” he said. “My hope is that when Congress comes back, they’ll see that funding the LWCF is important.”
Salazar also touted the Park Service’s role in job creation in places like Jackson Hole. National parks are responsible for about 4,000 jobs in Teton County, he said. Without Grand Teton National Park, “this place wouldn’t be what it is today,” he said.
Along with conservation of natural and cultural resources, “the jobs and economics that come along with our national parks is one of the most important things we do,” he said. An opportunity exists to create an additional 2.2 million jobs in the outdoor recreation and tourist industry, Salazar said.
Salazar defended a pending deal between Gov. Matt Mead’s office and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that would remove wolves from Endangered Species Act protection. He said allowing wolves to be killed at any time, by any means, without a license in about 88 percent of the state is based on science.
“We’ve approached this issue from a science point of view since day one,” he said.
The current population of wolves far exceeds the population of 100 wolves and 10 breeding pairs originally required for the entire state in the original recovery plans, Salazar said.
“I believe the states will work in good faith to make sure we have a sustainable population of wolves,” he said.
;)
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar answers questions during a hastily-planned public appearance Tuesday in Grand Teton National Park. Salazar touted the job-creating efforts of the National Park Service. BRADLY J. BONER / NEWS&GUIDE
View our entire photo gallery >>
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar called on Congress to fully fund the Land and Water Conservation Fund while on a visit to Grand Teton National Park on Tuesday.
Salazar’s comments come after Republican members of the House of Representatives attached riders to an appropriations bill that aim to deplete the conservation fund.
“The proposals that we have coming through the House of Representatives would essentially decimate the Land and Water Conservation Fund to the lowest level we have seen in modern times,” Salazar said at the Craig Thomas Discovery and Visitor Center at Moose.
He is on a family vacation to Grand Teton and Yellowstone national parks.
The funding is crucial to conserve land such as the roughly 1,400 acres of state-owned inholdings in Grand Teton that the National Park Service is slated to purchase over the next several years, Salazar said. The Park Service completed the first transaction, the sale of subsurface mineral rights near Jackson Lake, earlier this year.
“If we are not able to fund those acquisitions, then those lands will be put up for auction to the highest bidder,” he said.
For decades, Congress has plundered the Land and Water Conservation Fund so that it is now owed about $20 billion, Salazar said.
“It’s a broken promise to the American people not to fund it,” he said. “My hope is that when Congress comes back, they’ll see that funding the LWCF is important.”
Salazar also touted the Park Service’s role in job creation in places like Jackson Hole. National parks are responsible for about 4,000 jobs in Teton County, he said. Without Grand Teton National Park, “this place wouldn’t be what it is today,” he said.
Along with conservation of natural and cultural resources, “the jobs and economics that come along with our national parks is one of the most important things we do,” he said. An opportunity exists to create an additional 2.2 million jobs in the outdoor recreation and tourist industry, Salazar said.
Salazar defended a pending deal between Gov. Matt Mead’s office and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that would remove wolves from Endangered Species Act protection. He said allowing wolves to be killed at any time, by any means, without a license in about 88 percent of the state is based on science.
“We’ve approached this issue from a science point of view since day one,” he said.
The current population of wolves far exceeds the population of 100 wolves and 10 breeding pairs originally required for the entire state in the original recovery plans, Salazar said.
“I believe the states will work in good faith to make sure we have a sustainable population of wolves,” he said.