[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 20]
[Senate]
[Page 27610]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




       LAND AND WATER CONSERVATION AUTHORIZATION AND FUNDING ACT

  Mr. BAUCUS. Madam President, I rise today to speak about legislation 
that I introduced on Friday with Senator Bingaman--the Land and Water 
Conservation Authorization and Funding Act of 2009--which would 
establish permanent funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund. 
This bill makes it certain that the funds available in the Land and 
Water Conservation Fund--LWCF--are not subject to the annual whims of 
Congress, but instead that these funds are available at a steady, 
reliable, certain level that will allow us to protect land and water 
well into our future.
  For over 30 years, the LWCF has been used to purchase lands from 
willing sellers for the purposes of conservation. It is authorized at a 
spending level $900 million per year. However, Congress has rarely 
approved the full $900 million, and appropriations have varied widely. 
The result is a program that sometimes moves forward in fits and starts 
rather than with a consistent level of investment from year to year.
  Even with this situation, the LWCF is an incredibly successful and 
important program for our land conservation needs. In Montana, the LWCF 
has funded the acquisition of key treasures such as the Sun Ranch in 
Madison County and the Iron Mask Ranch in Broadwater County. We have 
areas all over Montana in the pristine ecosystem of the Rocky Mountain 
Front that are standing in line, just waiting for LWCF funds to be 
available.
  We cannot afford to wait any longer. We need to take steps today, 
this Congress, to fix this long-standing problem and establish 
permanent funding for the LWCF to protect Montana's resources well into 
the future.

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