Archive for the 'Budgets' Category

Feb 16, 2011

Wilderness Society Budget Blog

The Wilderness Society has a budget blog on their website that’s tracking the GOP’s attack on wild lands and conservation in the current budget debate.
Scary to read how the GOP thinks the last election has given them an open door to attack all wild lands, endangered species, and many important conservation efforts that America [...]

Feb 14, 2011

Refuge System and Land Acquisition Funding Take a Hit in GOP Budget

The National Wildlife Refuge Association is calling for refuge advocates, conservationists, and wildlife supporters to act now to prevent cuts proposed by House Republicans for both the National Wildlife Refuge System budget and the Land and Water Conservation Fund, which is a major source of funding to acquire new lands and waters for national wildlife [...]

Dec 19, 2010

Loss of Earmarks Could Hurt Refuges

The Albuquerque Journal reports that Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) had an earmark in the omnibus spending bill in Congress that would have provided $1 million for land acquisition at the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge near Socorro, New Mexico. Republicans — who had put millions of dollars of their own earmarks in the bill — suddenly [...]

Jul 29, 2010

Update on Refuge System Appropriations from the House

The National Wildlife Refuge Association just sent out an email update regarding recent action by the House Interior Appropriations subcommittee for the proposed Fiscal Year 2011 spending bill for the Department of the Interior. The NWRA stated that it is still unclear when the Interior bill will go to the House floor, but it [...]

Jun 14, 2010

Take Refuge System Budget Cuts Off the Table

A national coalition of wildlife conservation and sporting organizations has asked President Barack Obama to reconsider cuts to the National Wildlife Refuge System’s budget as the President considers cutting federal agency spending by five percent in FY 2012.

The coalition called the proposed cuts “wrong and inappropriate” at a time when refuges and the species they [...]

Mar 12, 2010

Write Congress About Refuge System Funding

The National Wildlife Refuge Association has put out an action alert urging citizens to write their representatives and senators about Refuge System funding for Fiscal Year 2011.

Refuge champions in Congress, House Refuge Caucus leaders, Mike Thompson (D-CA), Michael Castle (R-DE), Ed Perlmutter (D-CO) and Frank LoBiondo (R-NJ) and Senators Russ Feingold (D-WI) and Olympia Snowe [...]

Mar 08, 2010

2010 CARE Funding Report

The Cooperative Alliance for Refuge Enhancement (CARE) has just released their Restoring America’s Wildlife Refuges 2010 report, which warns of the threat from an Obama Administration proposal to significantly cut the Refuge System’s budget.
From CARE:

America’s National Wildlife Refuge System, comprising 150 million acres, requires a minimum of $900 million annually to operate adequately. The report [...]

Feb 05, 2010

Photo Friday: Poisoned Albatross Chicks on Midway Islands

The Metro Santa Cruz newspaper is reporting that paint chips from an old Navy base on the Midway Islands is causing the deaths of thousands of threatened Laysan albatross chicks, who are dying of lead poisoning. UC–Santa Cruz assistant researcher Myra Finkelstein did a study that provided evidence that paint chips from an abandoned U.S. [...]

Feb 01, 2010

Obama’s Refuge System Budget Disappoints

The National Wildlife Refuge Association just released details of President Barack Obama’s Fiscal Year 2011 budget, and it contains some disappointment for the Refuge System.

The National Wildlife Refuge Association (NWRA) expressed disappointment over President Obamas proposed $499.5 million operations and maintenance budget for the National Wildlife Refuge System for next year, Fiscal Year 2011. Because [...]

Jan 30, 2010

NWRA Sets 2010 Priorities for the Refuge System

The National Wildlife Refuge Association has laid out their 2010 priorities in advocating for the National Wildlife Refuge System:
Funding: With a renewed emphasis on reducing the federal deficit, as outlined in the President’s State of the Union, federal programs such as the National Wildlife Refuge System are likely to see reduced or frozen discretionary spending [...]

Oct 31, 2009

Refuge System Gets $40 Million Budget Increase

In a pleasant surprise from Congress, the just-passed “FY 2010 Interior, Environment and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill” will give the National Wildlife Refuge System a budget increase of $40 million, which was the higher amount that the House passed earlier this year.
From the press release by the National Wildlife Refuge Association:

This builds upon strong increases [...]

Sep 25, 2009

Senate Fails to Match House in Refuge System Funding

The National Wildlife Refuge Association has issued a press release announcing the passage of a $26 million budget increase for the Refuge System in the Senate’s FY 2010 Interior, Environment and Related Agencies appropriations bill. Unfortunately this is not the same amount that the House passed earlier.
From the NWRA:
The National Wildlife Refuge Association (NWRA) [...]