CAPITOL FLYER

On March 4, the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior and Related Agencies held a hearing on fiscal year 2005 (FY05) funding for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), among other agencies. Funding for the National Wildlife Refuge System (NWRS) and issues currently facing it were discussed with FWS Director Steven Williams and other witnesses.

Director Williams testified before the Subcommittee on the Administration's proposed budget for FY05. According to the Director's testimony, the Administration has requested $387.7 million for NWRS operations and maintenance (O&M). This is a decrease of $3.8 million from the enacted FWS budget for FY04. It is important to note, however, that, because of cost-of-living adjustments for FWS employees and other cost increases, the proposed budget would effectively result in a cut of $16 million for the Refuge System.

While the FY05 budget includes increases for such things as the Challenge Cost Share program, a component of the Cooperative Conservation Initiative involving natural resource restoration partnerships, funding for many other important programs has been reduced. For example, funding for Visitor Services programs and Visitor Facility Enhancement projects, which pay for many Friends and volunteer programs, have been severely cut.

The National Wildlife Refuge Association (NWRA), along with 20 other conservation and sporting organizations making up the Cooperative Alliance for Refuge Enhancement (CARE), is advocating for a $40 million increase for the NWRS O&M funding in FY05, a 10 percent increase over FY04. In testimony submitted to the Interior Appropriations Subcommittee, the NWRA requested the $40 million increase, restoration of adequate Visitor Services funding and continued funding of the Volunteer Invasives Monitoring Project to combat invasive species. Many Friends groups also submitted testimony to the Subcommittee, addressing similar priorities, along with issues specific to their local refuge.

As the appropriations process for FY05 progresses, the NWRA will continue to closely monitor and advocate for funding of the NWRS.

Congress is currently debating the six-year Transportation Equity Act, a bill that will fund highway projects across the country. The Senate passed its version of the transportation bill, S. 1072, in February, while the House passed its version, H.R. 3550, April 2.

Both versions of the Transportation Equity Act include funding for national wildlife refuge roads. However, the Senate funding level for refuge roads is $30 million, while the House level is $20 million. In light of the budget crisis facing the Refuge System, refuge roads funding in the transportation bill is essential to maintaining adequate infrastructure in refuges nationwide.

More than 37 percent of refuge roads are considered to be in poor to failed condition. With public use projected to increase 50 percent from the 40 million visitors in 2001 to 60 million visitors by 2009, growing pressure will be put on the NWRS and its infrastructure. As a result, the FWS requested a $69 million funding level, much higher than was passed by either chamber of Congress.

As a result of the differences between the House and Senate versions of the Transportation Equity Act, a conference committee must be appointed to work out the differences. However, disagreements in both chambers have caused a delay in assigning conferees for the bill. To avoid a shut down of much of the Department of Transportation, both chambers passed a 60-day extension of current surface transportation programs to keep things running until differences in the new transportation legislation are worked out in conference and signed into law.

On April 21, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Subcommittee on Public Lands and Forests held an oversight hearing on the implementation of the Recreational Fee Demonstration program (Fee Demo program) by the U.S. Forest Service (FS) and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). The hearing was intended to look at the Fee Demo program, changes the agencies have made and public reaction to the program.

The Subcommittee on Public Lands and Forests, chaired by Senator Larry Craig (R-ID), does not have jurisdiction over the FWS, and as a result, the Service's implementation of the Fee Demo program was not included in the hearing. However, testifying before the Subcommittee, witness Lynn Scarlett, Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Policy, Management and Budget, made a mention of the Fee Demo program at refuges in her testimony.

The Fee Demo program, first authorized in 1996, allows the federal land management agencies to test various collection strategies involving user and entrance fees. Agencies are able to use 80 percent of the receipts for protection and enhancement at the site where they are collected; the remaining 20 percent is used on an agency-wide basis for parts of the system that are precluded from participating in the program. Currently, the FWS has 109 sites participating in the Fee Demo program, which is currently authorized through December 31, 2005.

Proponents of the Fee Demo program like it because it provides added revenue for America's chronically under-funded public lands. The money is supposed to go to badly needed maintenance work and improving visitors' experiences. However, critics believe it amounts to double taxation, and say they expect their taxes to pay for the care of public lands. Also, some fear the program will encourage Congress to appropriate less money for programs that can be funded by fees.

The Bush Administration wants to make the program permanent, and has requested that the Fee Demo program be made permanent for all agencies in its past several budget submissions. Thus far, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee has only passed legislation making the Fee Demo program permanent for the National Park Service (NPS). S. 1107, legislation making the Fee Demo program permanent for the NPS, was approved by the Committee February 11. But some members, including the Committee's Ranking Member Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), have said the whole program should be dealt with at once, and sources expect an amendment to address other agencies' fee programs will be debated when S. 1107 reaches the Senate floor.

On April 17, Secretary of the Department of the Interior Gale Norton dedicated Rocky Mountain Arsenal, a former chemical weapons facility, as a national wildlife refuge. The dedication ceremony marked the formal transfer of nearly 5,000 acres out of the 17,000 acres of land at the site from the U.S. Army to the FWS.

The FWS already managed Rocky Mountain Arsenal as a wildlife refuge; however, according to the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge Act of 1992, transferring jurisdiction of the property from the Army to the Department of the Interior would take place once cleanup was completed. Eventually, when the cleanup of the rest of the Arsenal is complete, the Army will transfer a total of 15,000 acres to the FWS.

Rocky Mountain Arsenal, located in Commerce City, CO, approximately 10 miles northeast of downtown Denver, is one of the largest cleanup sites in the country. The Arsenal, built in 1942 to manufacture chemical weapons to be used in World War II, was once described as the "most polluted square mile on earth." Since 1985, however, the sole mission of the Arsenal has been environmental remediation. Cleanup plans were developed and approved by the Army, FWS, State of Colorado, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Shell Chemical Company. The site now contains nearly 300 species of wildlife, including deer, coyotes, bald eagles and white pelicans.

On April 22, the House Resources Subcommittee on Fisheries Conservation, Wildlife and Oceans approved legislation excluding non-native species from the protections of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. The bill, H.R. 4114, introduced April 1 by Subcommittee Chairman Wayne Gilchrest (R-MD), would clarify that the protections of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act do not apply to bird species introduced to the United States, such as pigeons, house sparrows, Muscovy ducks, mute swans and South American parrots.

The legislation was introduced in response to a court decision that, if broadly interpreted, could force the government to spend scarce protection dollars on species that often threaten or out-compete native migratory birds.

In addition, the Subcommittee approved H.R. 2619, which would allow the FWS to buy three tracts, totaling 219 acres, to add to the Kilauea Point National Wildlife Refuge in Hawaii.

The Subcommittee passed an amended version of the legislation that added two additional parcels to the boundaries of the refuge; one tract would be donated by a local land trust and the other by a private landowner. In total, the five new parcels would add 239 acres to the refuge, with three parcels coming from donations and the other two from willing sellers.

In September 2003, the Navy announced the construction of an outlying landing field (OLF) in Washington County, NC. The OLF will provide simulated aircraft carrier landings for F/A 18 Super Hornet jets, stationed in Oceana, VA, and Cherry Point, NC. The Navy estimates 31,650 practice aircraft landings and take-offs annually at the proposed OLF, equal to about one every 15 minutes.

The proposed landing field would be constructed within 3.5 miles of the Pungo Unit of Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge (NWR). Approach, departure and holding patterns of the jets would routinely occur over the Refuge at low altitudes. Noise from the jets will disturb resting and feeding waterfowl, which could potentially lead to their abandonment of the area and harmful impacts on the approximately 100,000 tundra swans, snow geese and other waterfowl that winter on Pocosin Lakes NWR. The Pungo Unit of Pocosin Lakes NWR was established in 1963 as a sanctuary for migratory waterfowl and includes diverse wildlife, such as the endangered red-cockaded woodpecker, bald eagles and the endangered red wolf, among others.

On April 20, 2004, U.S. District Court Judge Terrence Boyle ordered the Navy to stop work on the planned OLF by issuing a preliminary injunction prohibiting any further direct or indirect action associated with the project. According to the judge, the plaintiffs had "provided significant evidence that the Navy may have failed to take a hard look at the environmental effects of its decision" to build the field. The injunction will remain in effect as lawsuits against the Navy make their way through the courts.

Q Prime, Inc., a Manhattan-based music management company, has proposed to build an amphitheater for musical acts such as Metallica, Def Leppard and Garbage, among others, within 300 yards of the Louisville Swamp unit of the Minnesota Valley NWR. The 112-acre amphitheater, with a capacity for over 19,000 people, is projected to host over 40 concerts a year, from May through September.

Minnesota Valley NWR, one of the Refuge System's "urban" refuges, was established in 1976 to restore and manage the ecological communities of the Lower Minnesota River and its watershed while providing wildlife-dependent recreation and environmental education. The amphitheater will have a direct impact on refuge visitors, which include bird watchers, hikers and others seeking solitude and an escape from the nearby Twin Cities.

Friends of the Minnesota Valley, NWRA and other national organizations are currently working to counter the project through a variety of actions.