**Apologies for cross-posting**
Dear friends,
The National Trust for Historic Preservation, Conservation Lands Foundation, Coalition for American Heritage and National Association of Tribal Historic Preservation Officers (NATHPO) would like to invite your organization to sign on to the letter below to congressional appropriators urging increased funding for the Bureau of Land Management’s Cultural Resources Management and National Conservation Lands accounts. Identical letters will be sent to the House and Senate Interior Appropriations subcommittees.
More than 90 local and national organizations signed a similar letter in support of increased appropriations for these BLM accounts in the FY20 appropriations bill. That show of support was critical towards achieving significant increases for the National Conservation Lands and Cultural Resources Management accounts last year. We look forward to your support once again so that Congress understands the importance of this funding.
The text of the letter is below. To add your organization as a signer of this letter, please fill out this form. The deadline for signatures is Monday, March 9, 2020.
If you have any questions, feel free to contact me at davidf@conservationlands.org or Janelle DiLuccia with the National Trust for Historic Preservation at jdiluccia@savingplaces.org.
Thanks so much,
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Dear Chair McCollum and Ranking Member Joyce:
Thank you for increasing funding for key accounts within the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in the FY2020 Interior Appropriations bill and for your sustained oversight of the ongoing reorganization efforts at the BLM. As you prepare the FY2021 Interior Appropriations bill, we write to encourage you to build on that important work by including at least $20.131 million for BLM’s cultural resources account and at least $49.5 million for the National Conservation Lands.
The BLM manages the largest, most diverse, and most scientifically important body of cultural, historical, and paleontological resources of any federal land management agency. Yet only about 10 percent of BLM lands have been surveyed for heritage resources. We urge Congress to provide at least $20 million—an increase of approximately $1.5 million—for the BLM’s cultural resources management account to help BLM fulfill its statutory requirements to inventory and protect cultural resources, manage paleontological resources, and improve government-to-government consultation with Indian tribes. This modest increase in funding would also support ongoing collaboration with state historic preservation officers in the West to standardize and integrate cultural resources data for BLM lands through the National Cultural Resources Information Management System (NCRIMS). Thank you for FY2020’s increase of $1.5 million in this account and its direction to NCRIMS. This effort protects important cultural resources while also streamlining land-use planning and permitting by making better cultural resource data available earlier in the planning and project development process.
The BLM also needs increased funding for management of its system of National Conservation Lands, which is made up of nationally significant places designated by Congress or the President for their outstanding historic, cultural, ecological, and scientific values. The National Conservation Lands encompass more than 36 million acres, including more than 50 national monuments, national conservation areas (NCAs) and similarly designated areas on BLM lands, compared with 32 just ten years ago. In the past year alone, as a result of the John D. Dingell, Jr. Conservation, Management, and Recreation Act, three new units and nearly 1 million new acres were added to the system. Despite this increase, funding has not kept pace to properly manage these important places. With this in mind, we recommend at least $49.5 million in FY2021—an increase of approximately $5.6 million—in base funding for the National Conservation Lands. Additional funding should be directed toward ensuring each unit of the National Conservation Lands is appropriately staffed with land managers, law enforcement, and cultural resources experts, as well as inventory and monitoring of cultural resources that contribute to the special designation of these places. We also recommend robust funding for National Scenic and Historic Trails, National Wild and Scenic Rivers, and wilderness areas that are part of the National Conservation Lands and funded through other areas of the BLM’s budget.
Finally, we encourage you to address the long-standing vacancies in key cultural resources positions stipulated in the BLM Tribal Relations Manual, including the National Curator/NAGPRA Coordinator, National Tribal Coordinator, and 10 of the 12 state office Tribal Coordinator positions.
Our nation’s public lands contain remarkable and irreplaceable ecological, historical and cultural resources that reflect thousands of years of human connection to our lands. We thank you for your consideration of increased funding for proper stewardship of these resources in the FY2021 Interior Appropriations bill.
Sincerely,
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| David Feinman | Government Affairs Director
o: 202-429-8446 | c: 202-306-8162
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