Kermit the Frog, that lovable character from the Muppets, has been known to say that it's not easy being green. That is certainly true today, and it is even harder to pay for it. Despite strong and growing public support for protecting open spaces, federal funding for land conservation is declining. States, facing fiscal challenges of their own, are hard-pressed to take up the slack. It's a problem we need to solve.

The budget released by the Bush administration this month was a sobering example of this trend. Despite the President's earlier pledges to fully fund the Land and Water Conservation Fund, his budget for the next fiscal year includes only $130 million for the fund. That is less than 15 percent of the $900 million that flows into the fund each year from offshore oil and gas royalties and is the smallest amount proposed for land acquisition in more than a decade. To make matters worse, the President would eliminate all grants to states for park and recreation projects, leaving them to fend for themselves to meet the needs of their citizens.

One bright spot in the budget is a proposed increase for the Forest Legacy program, which helps states conserve forestland threatened by development, but this is barely a silver lining within the cloud of cuts that are proposed.

The cuts would hit home in Southeastern Pennsylvania, as earlier ones already have. One example is the state's efforts to conserve more than 1,800 acres of forested watershed lands in and around Birdsboro Borough in Berks County.

The Bureau of Forestry has been working with the Natural Lands Trust and the Berks County Conservancy to purchase development rights on these lands with funds from Forest Legacy. The Birdsboro Waters project lies within the Hopewell Big Woods, more than 73,000 acres within easy driving distance of Philadelphia. I have hiked this beautiful area and have seen many others there fishing, canoeing, and enjoying the abundant wildlife.

But this is about more than first-rate recreation. The project would provide critical watershed protection for the Schuylkill, safeguarding water quality for millions of people downstream in Philadelphia. Unfortunately, despite strong support from U.S. Rep. Jim Gerlach, funds for the project were cut late last year by Congress. Now the state is trying to figure out how to pay for it.

One possibility is the Highlands Conservation Act, enacted by Congress last year with bipartisan support, including the votes of Pennsylvania Sens. Arlen Specter and Rick Santorum. The act authorizes $10 million a year over 10 years to help Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York and Connecticut purchase priority lands and development rights within more than three million acres of forested ridges buffering Philadelphia, New York City and Hartford.

The Birdsboro Waters project falls within the Highlands region, but actually getting the funds for it under the act promises to be a real challenge in light of federal cuts to land-conservation programs. Specter must play a key role in this as a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee.

The other encouraging sign is that Gov. Rendell has made funding for land conservation and environmental protection a top priority. In his Growing Greener II initiative, he proposes to allocate $800 million over four years for everything from open space and farmland preservation to cleaning up polluted streams and community revitalization. The funds would come through a bond issue that would require voter approval. Republicans in the General Assembly have countered by advancing their Green PA bond proposal, but it would provide less funding for a more limited set of needs.

We cannot afford to let this critical issue fall victim to partisan squabbling. The governor and legislature must work out their differences and put the issue to the voters, who are fed up with traffic congestion and the loss of open space and farmland, especially in Southeastern Pennsylvania.

Given the recent success of such state and local land conservation measures on the ballot, Pennsylvania voters would be very likely to approve Growing Greener II or something similar if given the chance. According to the Trust for Public Land, voters in 121 communities in 24 states passed measures in November to invest $3.25 billion to protect land as parks and open space.

Yet, somehow this broad and increasing public support for land conservation is not getting through to the powers in Washington. We should not allow budget pressures caused by the war in Iraq and homeland security to reverse our nation's long-standing commitment to protect our natural heritage. Our children won't forgive us if we do.

Thomas A. Gilbert is director of Eastern Forest Conservation for the Wilderness Society. He lives in Buckingham Township.

By Thomas Gilbert, Philadelphia Inquirer, Feb 24, 2005

Back to Home