Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, February 10, 1991 TAG: 9102110242
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
"If we put off these investments, either we'll lose the lands or end up paying a steeper price," said Wilderness Society President George Frampton. "Once forests, fields and streams give way to fast-food strips and office buildings, they're gone forever."
The Wilderness Society and a coalition of 19 other groups targeted more than 1 million acres it says are vital to wildlife, history and outdoor recreation.
The lands, primarily fragile areas bordering existing parks, forests and refuges, cover a total area larger than Rhode Island. They were targeted because of the threat of industry, farming and home-building. In most cases, the coalition said, there are willing sellers.
Costs of the individual parcels range from $31 per acre to expand Oregon's Malheur National Wildlife Refuge by 32,000 acres, to $750,000 an acre to add two acres to the Weir Farm National Historic Site in Connecticut.
Congress has the authority to appropriate as much as $900 million annually from the Land and Water Conservation Fund for land purchases. Frampton said it averaged $230 million the last 10 years.
Oil companies pay into the fund to compensate the federal government for off-shore oil leases. The fund also gets money from the motorboat fuel tax and the sale of unneeded federal property.
President Bush recommended $250 million be spent on acquisitions last year and has boosted his request to $350 million for the 1992 fiscal year.
The House and Senate budget committees recommended $500 million be spent last year, but Congress approved only $343 million.
The Wilderness Society called on Congress to spend $964 million in the coming fiscal year and make another $200 million available in matching funds to states.
The Izaak Walton League, the National Wildlife Federation, Friends of the Earth, the National Audubon Society and the American Hiking Society are among the groups in the coalition.
\ $1 billion shopping list\ Here is a partial list of the most significant land acquisitions a coalition of 21 environmental groups propose Congress spend $1 billion to buy next year:
Warner-Steens Project Area, Ore., 60,000 acres, $5 million
Coffman Ranch, Wyo., 41,804 acres, $2.4 million
Santa Monica (Calif.) Mountains National Recreation Area, 1,100 acres, $35 million
Monocacy National Battlefield, Md., 534 acres, $17.5 million
Appalachian National Scenic Trail (Maine-W.Va.) 3,000 acres, $12 million
Cherokee National Forest, Tenn., 10,022 acres, $9 million
by CNB