A series of last-minute budget negotiations have ended the 1999 session of Congress on a high note for the land trust community.

The bill providing funding for federal programs for Fiscal Year 2000 (through September 30, 2000) have been enacted into law, after several weeks of negotiations in which the Clinton Administration was able to persuade Congress to make substantial increases in land conservation programs.

The final bill includes $40 million for matching grants to the states under the Land and Water Conservation Fund, a program that had received zero funding over the past six years. These funds can be used by states to acquire parklands and open space, as well as to fund a variety of outdoor recreation projects. Reviving this program was a key goal for the Land Trust Alliance's public policy program.

Federal land acquisition funding also had a major increase, roughly doubling the levels in versions of this bill passed earlier this year by Congress, but vetoed by President Clinton, who wanted the higher funding levels for conservation programs set out in his budget's Lands Legacy Initiative. That includes $101 million for the Forest Service's purchase of the Baca Ranch in New Mexico, $76 million for land acquisitions in the watershed of the Everglades National Park, and $15 million toward the acquisition of lands in the Mojave Desert, a project spearheaded by the Wildlands Conservancy of Yucaipa, CA, an LTA sponsor.

In other good news, the North American Wetlands Conservation Act received $15 milllion, the same funding level as last year. This funding goes to matching grants for wetlands projects in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. LTA President Jean Hocker serves on the North American Wetlands Conservation Council, which selects projects for this program from proposals submitted by land trusts, state wildlife departments, and others.