This Land, Your Land

"The President’s Fiscal Year 2011 budget for the National Park Service requests $2.7 billion and makes investments of $35.3 million in park operations increases. The budget underscores cost containment, program consolidation and management efficiencies to meet federal fiscal realities, yet provides the resources necessary to effectively carry out the National Park Service’s mission," says a news release from the National Park Service.

The request of $1.6 billion for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service "will focus funding on the agency's highest priority conservation initiatives, while containing costs through management efficiencies and other savings to address government fiscal realities. Among the top strategic investments are increases of $18.8 million for Climate Change Adaptation and $4 million for work to review planned renewable energy development to ensure they do not place threatened or endangered species at risk, as well as an additional $15.8 million for ecosystem restoration and $20 million for Federal land acquisition.

Elsewhere, "the National Wildlife Refuge Association expressed disappointment over President Obama's proposed $499.5 million operations and maintenance budget for the National Wildlife Refuge System (part of the Fish and Wildlife Service) for next year ... . Because refuges need at least $15 million annually to cover fixed costs, the proposed $3.3 million reduction represents an $18.3 million cut," says a release from the NWRA. "“If enacted, this budget will mean a loss of jobs and economic opportunity in communities across the country," said Evan Hirsche, president of the NWRA.

The budget also includes includes $4.939 billion in gross discretionary funding for the Civil Works program of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, offset in part by a proposal to cancel $52 million of prior year funding. It designates $64.3 million for projects in the Corps' Wilmington District. Among the projects funded are a major, multiyear rehabilitation project at John H. Kerr Dam and Reservoir in North Carolina and Virginia, several environmental restoration projects, a preconstruction engineering and design study for coastal storm damage repair at Surf City and North Topsail Beach, and money to continue studying the N.C. International Terminal in Brunswick County.