Clinton proposes $1 billion land-preservation package

Goal is to restore, protect undeveloped tracts

In this story:

• New crown jewels'
• Saving space closer to home
• Related stories and sites

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Clinton unveiled a $1 billion environmental plan Tuesday, nearly half of which would be used to buy vulnerable land in and near national parks, Civil War battlefields and other areas.

"It represents the single largest annual investment in protecting our green and open spaces since Theodore Roosevelt set our nation on the path of conservation nearly a century ago," Clinton said during a speech to the National Arboretum in Washington.

The president said he would work with Congress to create, "a permanent funding stream for this purpose, beginning in 2001."

Clinton makes a speech after Gore at the National Arboretum Tuesday

Clinton said his "Lands Legacy Initiative" has widespread public support, and urged Congress to act on his request for funding when it considers his proposed fiscal 2000 budget in coming months. The plan, he said, would be completely covered in the budget.

Vice President Al Gore was on hand Tuesday, praising the environmental initiative.

"President Clinton and I have worked very hard these past six years ... to craft solutions that are good for families, business and the environment," he said. "We're proving that we can grow the economy and protect the environment at the same time.

'New crown jewels'

Clinton is seeking $588 million for grants, loans and other programs for state and local communities as well as private land-conservation organizations.

The money would help buy land and pay for planning easements to protect farmland threatened with loss to development, as well as parks and forests in urban areas and other communities.

Clinton's proposal calls for buying land in the Everglades, the Mojave Desert, the Northern Forest in Maine and land along the Lewis and Clark Trail and several Civil War Battlefield sites.

The remainder of the $1 billion -- about $442 million -- would be used for direct land purchases, creating what Clinton calls "new crown jewels" among the country's natural treasures.

Roosevelt IV

The money would come from a land and water conservation fund financed largely by federal royalties from offshore oil drilling. Nearly 30 years ago, Congress authorized spending up to $900 million per year for land purchases from the fund.

Saving space closer to home

Clinton also will ask Congress to declare some 5 million acres of back country in 17 national parks and monuments under "the highest level of wilderness protection." Included on that list are properties in Yellowstone, Teton, Great Smoky Mountain and Glacier National Parks.

"If Congress approves, (those lands) will never know the roar of bulldozers," he said.

Gore unveiled another component of the plan on Monday: a proposal to use $700 million in tax credits to finance a $10 billion bond program aimed at creating suburban parks, greenways and other open space.

"In too many communities, farmland and open spaces are disappearing at a truly alarming rate," the president said. "In fact, across this country we lose about 7,000 acres every single day. And as the lands become more scarce, it becomes harder and harder for communities to then afford the price of protecting the ones that are left."

Clinton and Gore were joined at the Arboretum podium by conservationist Theodore Roosevelt IV, great-grandson of the 26th president, who stressed the urgency of acting on the president's proposal.

"If we do not protect the environment now, we cannot ensure a strong nation for our children," Roosevelt said. "If we do not act today, many of these lands will be gone."