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BLM conservation lands need more than a nickel

TUCSON -- The US Bureau of Land Management (BLM), a federal agency within the US Interior Dept., is responsible for more of your public land than any other agency.

BLM's National Landscape Conservation System (NLCS) is supposed to protect scenic monuments and places such as the San Pedro River, similar to National Parks, but it is suffering under Bush/Cheney.

I did some calculations on the President's FY 08 budget, and found:

BLM's NLCS gets $49.2M

BLM's 847 NLCS units, places such as the Ironwood Forest National Mounment seen here, cover 42.3M acres, 2061 miles of Wild and Scenic Rivers, and 5203 miles of National Historic and Scenic Trails.

 BLM NLCS gets $1.16 per acre, or $58k per unit.
Note: This is a high estimate as river and trail funding is not included, calculating these would make funding accurately even lower.

The National Park Service gets $2B

NPS 390 units cover 84M acres.

NPS gets $23.81 per acre, or $5.1M per unit.

So for every dollar NPS gets, BLM NLCS gets a nickel ($20:1).

BLM's complicated 'multiple use' viewpoint makes NLCS management even more demanding in many cases than National Parks.

NPS deserves and needs the money, and so does BLM for NLCS.

US Reps. Grijalva, Renzi, Giffords, Filner and others should reject Bush/Cheney and push for more NLCS funding.
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Anonymous said…
Daniel - do you know the percentage of the BLMs budget is allocated to covering frivolous lawsuits?
Tue Feb 13, 03:05:00 PM
Anonymous said…
How much did they get before - this story makes no sense without a context...
Wed Feb 14, 12:48:00 PM
Daniel R. Patterson, Editor said…
This is the lowest proposed budget since BLM's NLCS was created in 2000.
Wed Feb 14, 01:07:00 PM
Anonymous said…
First off, the money doesn't come directly from their budgets when the Center for Biological Lawsuits and other supposedly environmental loving groups file frivolous lawsuits. It does however, come directly out of our pockets. I don't know about the BLM but an employee with the USFWS that I know told me that each lawsuit usualy rings up at $300,000 to $500,000 per lawsuit.

What confuses me though about this is that this concern is coming from a guy who has spent a large amount of time trying very hard to show everyone how inept the BLM is and now suddenly he's concerned about them not having adequate funding to conitnue what in his mind is compltely the wrong way to manage public lands.
Wed Feb 14, 06:39:00 PM
Anonymous said…
where is the outrage over the environmental impact? http://www.tucsonweekly.com/gbase/Currents/Content?oid=oid:92554
Thu Feb 15, 06:07:00 AM
Daniel R. Patterson, Editor said…
I've always supported BLM staff, but not always BLM managers when they make poor decisions.

I'm advocating more funding here for conservation management, not multiple abuse.
Thu Feb 15, 07:19:00 AM
Anonymous said…
Because, I would imagine, he is now working with PEER--Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility. This next step in Mr. Patterson's career is a very logical extension of his 10+years working on the ground to protect the environmental integrity of public lands. Folks who work with public agencies, like the BLM, use the staff at PEER as a resource and advocate when they face resistance within their agencies when they try to follow the letter of the law within NEPA, ESA, etc. Another way PEER helps these folks is if they are too underfunded (as this post implies)to do their job correctly according to the law. Remember, if environmental laws were followed by federal agencies such as the BLM, USFWS, and the NPS, lawsuits would not need to be followed.
Thu Feb 15, 09:10:00 AM
Anonymous said…
re the outrage over the environmental disaster at our border, the enviro groups have been very effective at prohibiting americans from using public lands, perhaps they could adopt the same strategies to stop undocumented workers from using public lands. this approach could also save lives! this may be at odds with most liberal policies of open borders, but if one plant could be saved, it would all be worth it.
Fri Feb 16, 10:24:00 AM
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