Washington outlook - funding process for federal forest and natural resource programs

The annual funding process for federal forest and natural resource programs heated up in April and May as Congress set budget constraints and key appropriations subcommittees held hearings to figure out how to work within them.

The administration's funding proposals are wildly out of line with congressional budget constraints - to the tune of $1 billion to $2 billion. The process has only started, as the administration and Congress set negotiating positions for passing the Fiscal Year 2000 budget. Final passage takes place in September or October - barring extraordinary circumstances.

House and Senate committees held a slate of hearings to question various agencies about the administration's funding proposals, and much of the debate focused on two major initiatives. The Lands Legacy and Livability initiatives call for significant increases in natural resource funding. Although Congress and the administration are far apart on funding for key components of these initiatives, legislative activity in authorizing committees suggests more funding could be directed to these programs from off-shore oil leasing.

Organizations outside the government made their annual trek to Capitol Hill to present funding priorities for federal programs at the House Interior Appropriations Subcommittee's outside witness day, April 13. Testifying on behalf of AMERICAN FORESTS, Executive Director Deborah Gangloff focused on the U.S. Forest Service's cooperative forestry programs. Gangloff requested increased support for programs that provide critical financial and technical assistance to urban and rural communities that are working to restore and maintain healthy ecosystems.

We urged the Subcommittee to support the following programs and funding levels: Urban and Community Forestry ($40 million), Forest Legacy ($50 million), Economic Action Programs ($25 million), Pacific Northwest Assistance ($10 million), the Forest Stewardship Program ($35 million), and the Stewardship Incentives Program ($25 million). AMERICAN FORESTS worked closely with two partners in preparing for the hearing - Dan'l Markham, executive director of the National Network of Forest Practitioners, and Lynn Jungwirth, executive director of the Watershed Research and Training Center in Hayfork, California, and chair of the Communities Committee of the Seventh American Forest Congress. Dan'l and Lynn's testimony focused on the importance of the Forest Service's Economic Action Programs to rural communities meeting the challenges inherent with ecosystem management.

Subcommittee chair Rep. Ralph Regula and ranking minority member Rep. Norm Dicks seemed interested in the programs' ability to assist communities and leverage other funding resources. Bottom line, however, as Chairman Regula pointed out, is that it's unclear where these increases would come from, since budget caps require a $1.1 billion cut in the administration's proposals. Stay tuned.

COPYRIGHT 1999 American Forests
COPYRIGHT 2000 Gale Group