Jon L. Christensen: “Mr. Speaker, we fully support the goals of H.R. 1964. The purpose of this legislation is to facilitate conservation and…”

“Mr. Speaker, we fully support the goals of H.R. 1964. The purpose of this legislation is to facilitate conservation and preservation, ideals we fight for in this Congress on a regular basis. However, we must point out that the scope of H.R. 1964 is truly stunning. This legislation will create a new Federal conservation program covering 2 million acres and 1.4 million people in 4 States. The precise boundaries of this new Federally created area are only generally defined in the bill, and there are no references to a map to allow property owners to know if their property is included or not. Furthermore, the goals of this new conservation program are sweeping. The bill states that the Federal Government should work with States, units of local government and private property owners to 'protect, restore and preserve the water, forest, agricultural, wildlife, recreational and cultural resources' contained in this new Federal area. It is difficult to imagine a broader conservation mandate. Given the ongoing and severe underfunding of the land and water conservation funds, we continue to have concerns regarding the impact of this new $100 million effort may have on other worthy conservation programs funded with LWCF dollars. However, we will support H.R. 1964 at this time.”