The appropriations bill for Fiscal Year 2014 (FY14) being proposed by House Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment and Related Agencies would gut wildlife conservation in the country for years to come.
If enacted, the proposed funding and riders would:
· Cut the overall funding for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service by 27 percent (and if the 27 percent cut was evenly distributed to all Service programs, the Refuge System will fall from $502.8 million in FY10 to $331.2 million in FY14, a 34 percent cut in four years!)
· Eliminates all funding for conservation easements and land acquisition under the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF), a program established in 1995 that uses a small portion of royalties from off shore drilling to support conservation of other resources.
· Eliminates all funding for the State Wildlife Grants Program, which helps states keep species from becoming endangered.
· Eliminates all funding for the North American Wetlands Conservation Act (NAWCA), which funds wetland restoration on refuges.
· Eliminates all funding for Landscape Conservation Cooperatives that are forums for federal, state, tribes, organizations, and groups to work together to support conservation.
· Eliminate funds for establishment of refuges and boundary expansion.
