WASHINGTON — Conservationists who for years have struggled to win federal funding for new or expanded parks suddenly are seeing green, even in these lean budgetary times.
President Obama has proposed spending $420 million next year to buy land for national parks, forests and wildlife refuges, and to help states fund parks and recreation projects. That is more than double the amount Congress provided for 2009.
What's more, Obama has called for boosting the annual pot of money to $900 million within five years -- a level that has been reached only once, during the President Clinton years, since President Johnson signed the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act in 1964.
Environmentalists are drawing up wish lists for enlarging parks and wildlife habitats nationwide, including the Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge on the coast of Maine and Mt. Rainier National Park in Washington state.
At the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, officials hope to secure funding for the largest federal purchase of parkland in more than 15 years.
"It is a new day," said Alan Rowsome of the Wilderness Society.
Because Congress still must appropriate the funds, conservationists are working hard to secure the full amount Obama requested -- making the argument that a tough economy is precisely the time to step up land preservation efforts.
"Property values are not today what they were a year ago," said Alan Front, a senior vice president of the Trust for Public Land. "So every dollar that is invested in the Land and Water Conservation Fund probably buys a little bit more habitat, a little bit more recreational trail, a little bit more scenic vista than it bought a year ago.
"For bang for the buck," he said, "there's never been a better time."
And John Bernstein, vice president for conservation at Pacific Forest Trust, said land owners in need of cash were putting "big chunks" on the market.
"The choice," he said, "is do they go for development or do they go for conservation?"
Congress this year provided $171 million to the Land and Water Conservation Fund. (President George W. Bush had requested $54 million.) But the amount earmarked for National Park Service purchases was a third of what it was a decade ago.
The pool of money going toward state assistance also has declined.
California, which received $12 million several years ago, got less than $2 million last year.
