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Thursday, October 01, 2009

Federal Land Conservation Act Needs Reauthorization

By Maggie Hart Stebbins
Bernalillo County Commissioner
      In 2007, a half-mile of critical wildlife habitat along the lower Santa Fe River gained permanent protection thanks to a public-private partnership and the Federal Land Transaction Facilitation Act. Using this innovative conservation program, the Bureau of Land Management purchased 178 acres along the river stretch to extend the La Cienega Area of Critical Environmental Concern. The purchase also expanded protection of pre-Columbian ruins and rock art as well as the scenic viewshed along El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro National Historic Trail.
       These efforts to protect New Mexico's heritage-along with other success stories in the Santa Fe National Forest and Aztec Ruins National Monument-were made possible because Congress passed FLTFA in 2000.
       Unfortunately, the act is set to expire in 2010. Thankfully, U.S. Reps. Martin Heinrich and Ben Ray Luján from New Mexico and Cynthia Lummis from Wyoming have stepped in to introduce a bipartisan bill, H.R. 3339, to reauthorize and update this important and cost-effective program for land conservation.
       If Congress approves this bill to reauthorize FLTFA, we will see additional successful conservation gains in New Mexico similar to the BLM's recent purchase of 2,240 additional acres of deer and elk winter range in the Elk Springs Area of Critical Environmental Concern near Cuba. As a result, area wildlife have winter feeding opportunities other than private hayfields, the economic impact of agricultural loss is reduced, and New Mexicans have greater access to their public lands.
       The act embodies the principle of “land for land,” enabling federal land management agencies to use the proceeds from sales of superfluous public lands to purchase private lands of exceptional conservation value from willing sellers. Such sales have allowed the purchase of private lands in or bordering national parks, wildernesses, wildlife refuges and national monuments across the West. The program has also enabled better land management practices by disposing of isolated or difficult to manage public parcels identified through a public planning process.
       This innovative and common-sense program has provided the BLM, National Park Service, U.S. Forest Service, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service with over $57 million to acquire more than 13,600 acres.
       In difficult economic times, FLTFA is an excellent way to acquire high priority land for conservation and outdoor recreation without adversely impacting federal or local government budgets.
       By championing the reauthorization of the act, Heinrich, Luján and Lummis are serving the interests of the people of New Mexico, Wyoming and all Americans who value fish and wildlife conservation, cultural and historic preservation and outdoor recreation. I thank them for their leadership and encourage other members of the New Mexico delegation, and the rest of Congress, to join them in reauthorizing an important and cost effective tool for protecting our national heritage.
       

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