Below is a copy of the Friends' letter to Minnesota's Congressional delegation, urging it to increase funding for land acquisition in Minnesota national forests.
March 17, 2005
I urge you to support $2 million in the Fiscal Year 2006 Interior Appropriations bill for land acquisitions in Minnesota’s national forests. As you may know, the President’s 2006 budget did not request any funds from the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) for the Superior and Chippewa National Forests to acquire private land within the national forests from willing sellers.
It is imperative that funding be increased to ensure the long-term protection of lands in northern Minnesota, including those which border the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW), and provide public access for hunting, fishing, hiking, and bird watching. The BWCAW is the most popular wilderness site in the National Wilderness Preservation System, attracting more than 200,000 visitors annually. It is critical that as demand increases for recreation opportunities on public lands, the government helps meet this demand through land acquisition.
In Fiscal Year 2006, the Minnesota national forests hope to acquire a handful of properties from willing sellers. These properties, which lie within the boundaries of the Superior and Chippewa National Forests, would help protect critical fish and waterfowl habitat. Failure to secure $2 million for land acquisition in Minnesota would allow some of these properties to be sold to private owners, thus eliminating opportunities for additional public access.
Finally, it is crucial that Minnesota receive its fair share of LWCF funding. In Fiscal Year 2004, Minnesota’s national forests received no LWCF funding while Wisconsin and Michigan received $2 million and $1.5 million, respectively. Moreover, from Fiscal Years 1997 through 2004, Superior and Chippewa National Forests received $3.6 million. During that same period, Michigan and Wisconsin received $6.5 million and $12.8 million, respectively. This discrepancy is glaring because Minnesota has considerably more federal forest acreage than Wisconsin, and only slightly less than Michigan.
I request your continued support for the acquisition program in Minnesota forests and urge you to support $2 million from LWCF for this purpose in the final Interior Appropriations bill. Thank you in advance for your consideration.
Sincerely,
Sean Wherley
Communications Director