BLM Director Lauds Congress, Administration for
Agency's Funding Increases in Interior Appropriations Bill

Bureau of Land Management Director Tom Fry today praised Congress and the Administration for crafting a Fiscal Year 2001 Interior appropriations bill that increases funding for the BLM by more than 13 percent. Fry said the additional money "gives the BLM an unprecedented opportunity to demonstrate our stewardship capabilities in the fast-growing West."

Fry made his comments after President Clinton signed on Wednesday an $18.8 billion Interior Department appropriations bill for Fiscal Year 2001, which began October 1. The measure contains $128.2 million in additional funding for the BLM's primary operating accounts, a 13.6 percent increase over last year's level. (This figure does not include funding for fire operations and money from a newly established Land Conservation, Preservation, and Infrastructure Improvement fund.) The legislation also provides, in the wake of the worst wildland fire season in perhaps the last half-century, an additional $488.3 million for the Interior Department's fire-related activities. This 168 percent funding increase covers fire prevention, firefighting, and public land restoration.

"The West's rapid growth is placing new and complex demands on the BLM," Fry said. "These substantial funding increases show that Congress recognizes not only the complexity, but also the vital nature of the Bureau's mission in the changing West." Fry added, "Congress is showing its confidence – in the most tangible way possible – in our agency's ability to get the job done. We intend to meet, if not exceed, congressional expectations."

Besides its funding for fire-related activities, the appropriations bill contains additional money for several other key BLM-managed programs in Fiscal Year 2001: $17.2 million for restoration of BLM land damaged during the 1999 fire season; $65.6 million – a 48.8 percent increase -- for the Payments-in-Lieu-of-Taxes (PILT) program, which benefits counties and local communities; $19 million for land-use planning, the amount the Bureau requested for updating its land-use plans, which determine what types of activities may take place on specific areas of the public lands; $9.6 million – a 48.2 percent increase -- for the Wild Horse and Burro Program, under which the BLM manages more than 40,000 wild horses and burros that roam the public lands; $86 million – a 160.5 percent increase – for construction and deferred maintenance of facilities; and $15.6 million for conservation- and management-related land acquisitions, a 100.6 percent increase over last year's funding. The BLM's conservation funding is expected to increase significantly after the Interior Department distributes the BLM's share of $686 million in new funding for land conservation, preservation, and infrastructure improvement.

The BLM, an agency of the U.S. Department of the Interior, manages more land -- 264 million surface acres -- than any other Federal agency. Most of this public land is located in 12 Western States, including Alaska. The Bureau, with a workforce of about 8,700 full-time, permanent employees, also administers 700 million acres of sub-surface mineral estate throughout the nation. The BLM preserves open space by managing the public lands for multiple uses, including outdoor recreation, livestock grazing, and mining, and by conserving natural, historical, cultural, and other resources found on the public lands.