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Environment News Service: Bipartisan Sen . . . Compromise Pledges $ 3 B for Conservation http : //ens . lycos . com/ens/jul2000/2000L-07- 17-06 . html <br /> Committee will have the right to review the list of acquisitions . The <br /> appropriators receive more than a billion dollars in requests a year <br /> for land purchases . " <br /> s <br /> 4r The bill would provide <br /> funds to preserve <br /> timberlands across the <br /> country ( Photo courtesy <br /> Umpqua Watersheds, Inc . ) <br /> There is also a section in the <br /> bill that guarantees private <br /> { x property rights . It reads , <br /> " Nothing in this Act creates <br /> any new authority for Federal <br /> 1III <br /> agencies to apply regulations <br /> on privately owned land . " The <br /> rem <br /> bill also provides that , <br /> " Nothing in this Act shall authorize that private property be taken for <br /> public use , without just compensation . " <br /> A new part of the bill requires the Congress to approve all of the <br /> $ 450 million for the federal portion of the LWCF before any of the <br /> other funds in the bill can be released . <br /> The states ' portion of the LWCF provides grants to states and local <br /> communities for the planning , acquisition and development of park <br /> and recreation facilities . Over 35 years that fund has provided more <br /> than $ 3 . 2 billion for 37 , 000 grants that have built soccer fields and <br /> hiking trails . <br /> This bill changes the allocation formula to benefit smaller population <br /> states with 60 percent equally divided among all states and the <br /> remaining 40 percent based on population . Under current law , 40 <br /> percent is equally divided and 60 percent is based on population . <br /> $ 15 million a year would1/4 11,: - ' <br /> go toward preserving ° <br /> historic battlefields likethe <br /> . <br /> the Cowpens National a _--- - � <br /> Battlefield in South <br /> Carolina ( Three photos : <br /> courtesy National Park Service ) me � y . <br /> As in the House bill , this i , , <br /> -. .Ii <br /> mark provides $ 350 million . ., Y <br /> for state wildlife <br /> , • _ ', � may. - , � 4 ^� <br /> conservation and restoration I <br /> programs . This nearly . . y't, e T <br /> doubles the funds available <br /> for wildlife conservation under existing laws . <br /> The Urban Park and Recreation Recovery Act will be funded at $ 75 <br /> million . A second urban program the Urban and Community Forestry <br /> Program established in 1990 , provides technical and financial <br /> assistance to plan , protect , establish and manage forests and related <br /> resources in cities and towns . This section would stabilize funding at <br /> f 7/ 18/2000 1 : 47 PM <br />