In early February, President Bush released his proposed federal budget for fiscal year 2009. The proposed budget for the three major land conservation programs, the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF), the Forest Legacy Program, and the Highlands Conservation Act (HCA), has plummeted by more than 90 percent since 2001.
With proposed funding levels so low, only one priority conservation project in the AMC region, the Machias River project in Maine, was included in the President’s FY09 budget.
With strong support from Congressional leaders, we hope to increase combined funding under the three federal programs ten-fold ($398 million for LWCF, $120 million for Forest Legacy, and $11 million for HCA) in the final federal budget for FY09.
A list of the projects AMC is supporting in fiscal year 2009 is below. For more information, go to the Northern Forest, Southern New England, and Mid-Atlantic Land Proctection pages.
Highlands Conservation Act
Cooks Creek Watershed (PDF, 738 KB) and South Mountain (PDF, 676 KB)- PA
Wyanokie Highlands & Farny Highlands (PDF, 229 KB) and Ramapo Mountains (PDF, 218 KB) - NJ
Greater Sterling Forest (PDF, 693 KB) and Great Swamp (PDF, 702 KB) - NY
Ethel Walker - CT (PDF, 158 KB)
Forest Legacy
Tree Farm #1, PA (PDF, 143 KB)
Passaic Ramapo Watershed II - NJ (PDF, 238 KB)
Fishkill Ridge – Hudson Highlands State Park, NY
Lake Waubeeka – CT (PDF, 215 KB)
Southern Monadnock Plateau II - MA
Westfield Heritage Woodlands - MA
Metacomet-Monadnock – MA
Machias River Phase III - ME (PDF, 531 KB)
Katahdin Forest Expansion (PDF, 301 KB) and map (PDF, 704 KB)– ME
Crotched Mountain - NH
Green Acres Woodlands - NH
Land and Water Conservation Fund
Wallkill National Wildlife Refuge – NJ
Delaware Water Gap – NJ
Silvio Conte Wildlife Refuge - CT, MA, NH, VT
Lake Umbagog Wildlife Refuge - NH and ME
Appalachian Trail Corridor - Mahoosucs Range, NH and ME
Cape Cod National Seashore - MA
