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Government holding onto Conservation Funds in 2013 Note: Payments into Trust Funds such as the Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration and Boating Safety Trust Funds are exempt from sequestration, however, payments out of these Trust Funds are not. According to the latest figures released from the White House, this will result in withholdings of approximately $27 million from Wildlife Restoration, $19 million from Sport Fish Restoration, and $6 million from Boating Safety in 2013. That is not good, but I am not sure if any state will even feel it split 50 ways, as NYs appropriations alone is around $20 million. And, if NY doesn’t kiss & make up with the FWS, that $20 Mill might go right back into the hat! Also note: Thanks to the Outdoor Writers Association, most sportsmen are only aware of the federal conservation funds known as PR and DJ funds, which are actually wildlife restoration and sport fish and boating restoration funds. However, as listed below, there actually is a myriad of federal conservation funds. To add insult to injury, generally speaking, most of the non-shooting conservationists are better versed in these programs than sportsmen. If that includes you, thank your info sources… Although ‘sequestration’ in the conservation world usually means carbon sequestration, the latest impacts to wildlife may actually be from the federal government’s budget sequestration. The Budget Control Act language of 2011 was intended to be a last ditch effort to force compromise in a divided Congress, but when an agreed upon budget was not reached by March 1, 2013, the budget sequestration cuts outlined in the Act [Pub. L. 112-25] were automatically enacted. In an attempt to lower the federal deficit by $85 billion ($42.667 billion in non-defense spending) through 10 years of austerity, the bill starts with an average of 5 percent cuts in non-defense spending (5 percent discretionary, 5.1 percent mandatory) and defense spending cuts between 5 and 7.8 percent. However, since these cuts must be achieved by September 30 of this year, the effective reductions will actually be around 13 percent for non-exempt defense programs and 9 percent for non-exempt non-defense programs, because the cuts are not spread evenly over all 12 months. Today the Continuing Resolution (CR) was passed to fund the rest of fiscal year 2013, locking in the current sequester cuts for the remainder of the year. Within the conservation realm, cuts to the National Park Service have been most widely publicized. On March 8, 2013, the National Park Service Director Jon Jarvis released a memo to his employees that “900 permanent positions will not be filled … [and] we will hire over 1,000 less seasonal employees this year.” The possible closure or reduced hours of national parks, as well as the impact to the small businesses surrounding the parks has been well covered by organizations such as the National Wildlife Federation, Congressional Sportsman’s Foundation, and National Parks Conservation Association. Similarly, national wildlife refuges may be forced to limit public access and recreational opportunities by closing some refuges and visitor centers. The funds for refuges are included in resource management cuts totaling $64 million. Refuges will also be hit by cuts to “construction” ($5 million) that include habitat restoration and erosion control activities, road, building, and visitor services on refuges, and $1 million in cuts to the National Wildlife Refuge Fund. On March 2, the White House Office of Management and Budget released a report detailing how much will be cut from each agency. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service: $127 million$64 million from Resource Management $5 million from Construction $1 million from Multinational Species Conservation Fund $21 million from Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration $1 million from National Wildlife Refuge Fund $2 million from Migratory Bird Conservation Account $2 million from Cooperative Endangered Species Conservation $2 million from North American Wetlands Conservation Fund $3 million from State Wildlife Grants $23 million from Sport Fish Restoration U.S. Forest Service (USFS): $298 million Department of Defense: $526 Million $94 million from Department of Defense environmental restoration accounts $26 million from Environmental Restoration (formerly Used Defense Sites) $394 million from Defense Environmental Cleanup $12 million from Non-Defense Environmental Cleanup Bureau of Land Management: $75 million Natural Resources Conservation Service: $223 million National Park Service: $153 million Environmental Protection Agency: $472 million $125 million from USFS Wildland Fire Management $38 million from the Department of the Interior’s Wildland Fire Management Fire Management: $163 million States will also be affected, as funds that come from the federal government are cut. View an interactive map for information on your state (click on the environmental protection tab). Sources: ABC News (March 13, 2013), American Institute of Biological Sciences (March 11, 2013), Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies, Federal Budget Sequestration Fact Sheet, CARE –Fiscal Cliff and Wildlife (2012), Environment News Service (March 1, 2013), Fairfax News (March 7, 2013), National Geographic News (Feb. 28, 2013), National Wildlife Federation, Conservation Impacts of the Fiscal Cliff, NorthJersey.com News (March 4, 2013), Sequester could hurt NJ’s environment, NPSretirees.org, OMB Report to the Congress on the Joint Committee Sequestration For Fiscal Year 2013, USFWS 2013 Budget