What the funding fight means for national parks

[riversedge]

http://www.cnn.com/2015/12/12/politics/national-parks-land-water-conservation-fund/index.html


What the funding fight means for national parks
Ashley Killough Profile

By Ashley Killough, CNN

Updated 8:45 AM ET, Sat December 12, 2015
Story highlights

Congress is debating the future of the Land and Water Conservation Fund
Environmentalists fear pending land conservation projects are at risk if Congress doesn't reauthorize the law
House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Rob Bishop of Utah is a critic of the law, saying it has become a tool for the federal government to simply buy more land

(CNN)Conservatives and conservationists are clashing over the Land and Water Conservation Fund, a 50-year-old program that is suddenly in the middle of a spending battle on Capitol Hill.

The fund uses royalties from offshore oil drilling to help purchase and develop outdoor recreation areas. It's led to the creation of tens of thousands of small projects like parks, beaches, trails, hunting and fishing areas, and baseball fields, in addition to funding bigger conservation projects in national parks and wildlife refuges. ................

[yallerdawg]

1. The Republicans took control of state government here in Alabama.

They cut and cut, and raided Alabama State Park revenue stream to pay other accounts.

This October, they closed 5 out of 21 state parks - in the poorest areas of the state. Local city and county government entities are picking up where the state let go, in most cases. The parks will remain on the "Alabama State Parks" website if they're opened - why not?

Here's one: http://www.alapark.com/florala-city-park

Glad it is still open! It's beautiful and just on outskirts of Florala on way to Florida - or back from Florida.

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[2naSalit]

2. They want to privatize or at least

allow extractive industries to have access to these public lands.