THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, July 6, 1995 TAG: 9507060005
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A8 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Short : 50 lines
Anyone who wants the Back Bay watershed protected should be concerned about what is going on in Congress.
Unless there is a tremendous public outcry, there will be no funds to continue to acquire land for the Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge expansion.
The House appropriations bill would eliminate land-purchase funding except for a nominal sum for ``emergency acquisitions.'' A companion appropriations bill is expected in the Senate in early July.
The money comes from the Land and Water Conservation Fund which is endowed with offshore-oil-drilling royalties. Each year $900 million is directed into this fund, which was established specifically to purchase and protect land. The LWCF is the means by which individual property owners may be fairly compensated for their land that is in turn protected for future generations. It is a win-win situation for everyone. As in the Back Bay project, the valuable natural resources of Back Bay are protected, and willing property owners have been paid for their lands. To date the Fish and Wildlife Service had purchased 3,336 acres of the proposed 6,340-acre expansion. In this recently purchased land, eagles nested for the first time in more than 30 years and sub-aquatic vegetation has returned to Back Bay.
Without appropriations this year, there will be a moratorium on land acquisition at the Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge. But remember, there will be no moratorium on environmental destruction. There are now more than 1,100 acres ready to be purchased from willing sellers. Without funding, acquisition will cease and the promise to these sellers will be broken.
Both the House and Senate budget commitees have ``suggested'' to the appropriators that they zero out funding for the next five to seven years. The impact of such a freeze also has national implications. There are hundreds of the acquisition priorities in the national parks, national forests, fish and wildlife refuges, wild and scenic rivers and public lands of nearly every state.
As the American population continues on a path that will double by the middle of the next century, we need to invest in preserving our remaining natural areas. We owe that much to future generations. Our U.S. senators need to hear from us on this subject now.
MOLLY BROWN, president
Friends of Back Bay
Virginia Beach, June 27, 1995 by CNB