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The Nature Conservancy Applauds Bush Administration's Proposal for FY2004 Forest Legacy Projects Program Will Protect Thousands of Forested Acres Across United States Arlington, VA—January 31, 2003—The Nature Conservancy applauds the Bush Administration’s request for $91 million in funding for the Forest Legacy Program in Fiscal Year 2004, which includes $20.6 million for nine projects supported by the Conservancy. If approved, the Forest Legacy appropriations to these conservation projects will be matched 3-to-1 by additional funds from other federal, state, local and private sources. Nature Conservancy-supported projects included in the Bush Administration’s budget proposal announced today will protect almost 153,000 forested acres in Alabama, California, Delaware, Georgia, Maine, New York, Rhode Island, Virginia and the U.S. Virgin Islands. "We are happy that the Bush administration recognizes the critical need to allocate resources toward protecting America’s forests," said Steve McCormick, president of The Nature Conservancy. "Our nation’s woodlands harbor a wealth of plants and wildlife and provide a host of benefits for local communities – it is imperative that these precious landscapes endure and thrive." The Forest Legacy Program is a partnership between the United States Forest Service (USFS), state governments and private landowners that identifies and protects ecologically important forest habitat which is threatened by possible development or unsustainable practices. Program objectives are met through land acquisition or the use of conservation easements, which protect working forests while meeting important conservation goals. The Bush Administration’s Forest Legacy Program budget is part of the larger Fiscal Year 2004 funding bill for the Department of the Interior and the USFS. "The Nature Conservancy has enjoyed close partnerships with the U.S. Forest Service and individual state governments on Forest Legacy projects, sharing common goals of protecting critical forest habitat and saving each state’s own forest legacy for its citizens," said Scott Davis, state director for the Tennessee Chapter of The Nature Conservancy. "We now urge Congress to finish the budget for Fiscal Year 2003 and to support increasing levels of funding for the Forest Legacy Program in FY2004 and in years to come so that we can turn these goals into realities." The Nature Conservancy is currently waiting for a Congressional vote to appropriate funds to several proposed Fiscal Year 2003 Forest Legacy projects that the Conservancy supports. If Congress appropriates the funds, more than 110,000 acres in Delaware, Georgia, Hawaii, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia and Wisconsin will be protected. In Tennessee, the Congressional delegation is asking for $3.5 million from the FY2003 Forest Legacy budget for 11,806 acres of bottomland hardwood forest in Lauderdale County that The Nature Conservancy purchased from Anderson-Tully Company for $15 million. Congress has already allocated $4.5 million of Forest Legacy funds to this project from the 2002 budget, making this the largest Forest Legacy Project in Tennessee’s history. Protecting this area is part of a long-range plan to provide 100,000 acres of bottomland forests for migratory birds and other critical species along the Mississippi River corridor. FY2003 Forest Legacy funding has also been requested for 1,541 acres of northern Cumberland Plateau hardwood forest known as Horseshoe Cliff (also called the Jim Creek tract). The property is surrounded by public lands including Pickett State Park, Pickett State Forest, Daniel Boone National Forest and almost 2,000 acres of private conservation lands held by The Nature Conservancy. This property protects habitat for the federally endangered Indiana bat.
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