National Parks in Crisis, Says Teddy Roosevelt IV

Pointing out that less than one percent of the total 1998 federal budget was allocated to care and upkeep of public land, Roosevelt said the budget resolution passed by the Senate just before the spring recess represents even worse "trickle down to nothing funding" for natural resources.

Roosevelt, an investment banker and chief spokesperson for the Public Lands Funding Initiative, charged Congress with "poaching" from the Land and Water Conservation Fund and from royalties paid by users of public lands. Instead of being used to protect those same lands, it is being diverted into reclamation and development projects. Defenders of Wildlife President Rodger Schlickeisen introduced Roosevelt to the National Press Club by asking, "If President Theodore Roosevelt were still alive, he would no doubt be appalled by our elected officials' refusal to adequately safeguard the great public lands legacy he left us. We all read news stories about the projected federal surplus. If we cannot now begin to satisfy the unmet financial needs of our public lands, to protect their value for future generations, then when can we expect to do so?"

Conservationists at the press conference also released a list of projects across the country that congressional appropriations committees are currently "holding hostage," including areas that have already been approved for adding to the national parks, wildlife refuges and forests but, in many cases, must be acquired quickly to prevent destruction of lands and wildlife.

"The Fish and Wildlife Service cannot implement habitat restoration plans for currently listed endangered species, let alone for the backlog of 206 species which need listing proposals... the National Park Service budget has decreased by 40 percent since 1978, while recreational usage has increased by 48 percent; the backlog in maintenance, resource management, construction, land acquisitions for that service alone is estimated at $8 billion; and, while the U.S. Forest Service actually wants to do something we would like -- obliterate 40,000 miles of unnecessary logging roads which cause incredible damage to wildlife habitat -- guess what: despite the below-cost sale of timber, there isn't enough money!"

As an example of fiscal "poaching," Roosevelt says that in 1996, Bureau of Land Management lands generated over $1 billion from royalties from mineral leasing, timber sales, grazing fees, and recreation use. But after managing to accrue $1 billion dollars, which would go a long way in maintaining BLM lands, 76 percent of that money was transferred to the Bureau of Reclamation for irrigation projects authorized under a 1902 law.

Congress is also poaching from the Land and Water Conservation Fund -- a fund created to invest offshore drilling royalties in the acquisition, consolidation, and protection of our public lands. "But while the money exists in theory -- 900 million dollars a year -- Congress has managed to spend it on that preferred congressional landscape called `Elsewhere.' Since the fund's inception in 1965, a total of nearly $22 billion could have been allocated to our public lands... but only $9.2 billion has been spent as it was intended," Roosevelt noted.

"The budget for our national forests needs to be turned inside out," agreed William H. Meadows, president of The Wilderness Society. "The government needs to stop throwing money at logging and grazing and start investing in clean water, wildlife, and recreation. These are the areas where our tax dollars will pay big dividends, both today and far into the future. The current budget is about 50 years out of date."