Budgets

President Proposes Budget for BLM in FY 2009 With a focus on the protection and sustainable development of public land resources, the Administration today requested a $1.002 billion gross budget for the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management in Fiscal Year 2009. The FY 2009 budget proposal includes a $10 million increase for the BLM’s role in implementing Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne’s Healthy Lands Initiative, which supports landscape-level restoration work in key areas across eight Western states....
Agency budget highlights Interior The White House is proposing a 3.7 percent cut in the Interior Department’s budget. The budget proposes $141 million in savings from the elimination or reduction of nine programs. The budget proposes to eliminate the Bureau of Land Management’s $10 million range improvement fund. Eliminating the fund will shift the responsibility of building and maintaining public land projects to those using the land, the administration said. The Bureau of Indian Affairs budget for road maintenance would get cut by $13 million. The administration says tribes could use Transportation Department funds for maintaining roads on Indian reservations. The Office of Surface Mining would receive $20 million less in discretionary grants for projects related to restoring lands affected by coal mining. The administration said this program duplicates efforts being undertaken through the office’s recently revised abandoned mine land grant program....
USDA Total USDA expenditures are estimated at $95 billion in FY 2009, which is approximately the same level as FY 2008. Roughly 76 percent of expenditures, or $72 billion in 2009, will be for mandatory programs that provide services required by law, which include many of the nutrition assistance, commodity, export promotion and conservation programs. Wildland Fires. The budget continues implementation of the President's Healthy Forests Initiative to mitigate the threat of catastrophic wildfires. Resources proposed in the budget will reduce hazardous fuels on almost 2.5 million acres of land. By the end of FY 2009, Federal agencies, including the Department of the Interior, will have treated hazardous fuels and accomplished landscape restoration activities on 29.9 million acres of the Nation's forests and wooded rangelands since the beginning of FY 2001. The budget for the Forest Service also provides increased wildland fire resources to protect communities and natural resources, and provides for sustainable forests and communities through full funding of the Northwest Forest Plan....
USFWS The President's $2.2 billion FY 2009 budget request provides significant increases for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for bird conservation and habitat work on private lands across the nation, while sustaining increases in the National Wildlife Refuge System budget and supporting other key Service priorities. The $1.3 billion FY 2009 discretionary budget request represents a reduction of $64.6 million compared to the 2008 enacted level, with most reductions resulting from lowered proposed spending in construction and land acquisition. The request for the Endangered Species Program is $146.8 million. This reflects a decrease of $3.7 million from the 2008 enacted level to eliminate unrequested funding increases and cost savings through reduced administrative costs. The Service?s land acquisition account has been decreasing over the years to reflect our efforts to focus on our current management responsibilities. The request for land acquisition is $10.2 million, a $24.4 million reduction compared to the 2008 enacted level which includes reducing administrative and related costs to a level more in line with the current size of the program....
Park Service President Bush today proposed $2.4 billion in fiscal year 2009 for the National Park Service, including $2.13 billion for operation of the National Park System. This $160.9 million increase over the FY 2008 request for park operations will bolster visitor services and protect park resources and facilities. The request includes increases of nearly $45 million for targeted park base core operations, $36 million for parks’ fixed costs, $22.8 million for cyclic maintenance, $20 million for natural resource health and $ 8.0 million for Service-wide training and professional development programs....
Lawmakers complain Bush budget cuts fire prevention money President Bush's 2009 budget plan would slash money for fire prevention and preparedness in the wake of last fall's devastating wildfires in California, prompting an outcry from Democratic lawmakers who warned of massive layoffs at the Forest Service. Bush did propose a slight increase in money to respond to fires. Among the proposed cuts was a $13 million decrease in money for the Forest Service to clear debris and small trees that can pose a risk of fire. Money for preparedness and readiness, such as firefighter training and equipment, would fall from $942 million to $866 million, according to Democratic aides. Overall the budget for the U.S. Forest Service would decline from $4.5 billion in 2008 to $4.1 billion in 2009 under Bush's proposal. Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Wash., chairman of the House Appropriations Interior subcommittee, called the proposed cuts to the Forest Service "breathtaking" and said they could result in a layoff of nearly 1,200 employees—10 percent of the agency's work force....
National Parks Conservation Association Calls on Congress to Improve Proposed Parks Budget The nation’s leading voice for the national parks, the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA), today praised the Administration’s $161-million proposed operating increase for national parks, while criticizing cuts to other critical park programs that undermine this much-needed operating increase. “The $161-million operating increase is an important step toward restoring our national parks, but cutting other critical Park Service funding will impede these efforts to fully restore the park system by its 2016 centennial,” said National Parks Conservation Association President Tom Kiernan. The National Parks Conservation Association is concerned that continuing to cut overall spending in the Department of the Interior will ultimately thwart efforts to restore the parks by their 2016 centennial. The overall fiscal year 2009 Interior budget is down $388 million or 3.5 percent from the current enacted level. The Administration’s overall fiscal year 2009 budget request for the National Park Service is approximately $2.4 billion—an increase of only $14 million over the current fiscal year 2008 budget....