Can We Afford The America's Great Outdoors Initiative?

Months in development, the America's Great Outdoors initiative is a broad road map drawn by the Obama administration to both reconnect Americans with the outdoors and outline how the country can preserve much of its natural landscape. But how timely, in light of current fiscal and political winds, is it? More so, couldn't many of its goals have been put in motion, or even accomplished, without this 111-page initiative that is "aimed at reigniting our historic commitment to conserving and enjoying the magnificent natural heritage that has shaped our nation and its citizens." Many of the issues raised in those pages -- a disconnect between younger generations and the American landscape, the need to protect through conservation and preservation parklands, forests, farms, rivers, and streams, and improved access to those lands -- are not new but rather have been debated over and over again. Don't overlook the fiscal realities: The National Park Service has a maintenance backlog in the neighborhood of $8 billion and the president's proposed FY12 budget for the agency, while overall providing a slight $138 million increase over current levels, would cut $81 million from its construction budget. In an effort to slow further growth of the existing backlog, the budget does propose $3.2 million for cyclic maintenance and $7.5 million for repair and rehabilitation projects, but the inequity is obvious. Politically, emboldened House Republicans anxious to blunt the federal deficit have shown no interest in coming close to fully funding the Land and Water Conservation Fund, a task that would take $900 million. The America's Great Outdoors initiative relies heavily on that full funding, which, proponents note, would come from royalties flowing from oil and gas leases on public lands...more