Watershed Update

LAND & WATER CONSERVATION FUND ON THE ROCKS

With funding for public land acquisition projects in the Chattooga River watershed at an all time low, President Bush’s recent budget recommendations for FY 2006 continue that downward spiral by proposing to terminate funding to states from the Land & Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) and cut the federal LWCF to the lowest level in the last ten years. The Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) is a very popular bipartisan program established in 1964 to create parks, playgrounds, open spaces, hiking and bicycle paths, preserve wildlife habitat, and enhance recreational opportunities. The Fund uses proceeds from offshore oil and gas drilling leases, and since its inception has spent this money to create and/or augment many of our most treasured national parks, forests and refuges, as well as thousands of community parks and urban recreation areas. Just a few of these places are the Everglades National Park, Appalachian Trail, and the Chattooga National Wild and Scenic River Corridor.

Currently in the Chattooga watershed, there are several key tracts that willing sellers have offered for acquisition into public land holdings. These tracts include wildlife corridors, sensitive species’ habitat, streams that flow into the Chattooga River, and undisturbed areas adjacent to the national forest. Given the escalating, voracious pace of development here prompt action to acquire the land is the best hope for conserving these natural resources, for which the Chattooga watershed is famous. The opportunity for protecting key tracts is growing slimmer by the day! Please take a moment at this pivotal time to communicate your unequivocal, strong support for full funding of the Land & Water Conservation Fund, which is authorized at $900 million annually to safeguard important natural areas and provide urban recreation opportunities. Call and ask for your Members of Congress at 202-224-3121 (Capitol switchboard), and request their support for full funding of the LWCF. Ask also that your senators and representatives write congressional leadership and appropriations committee members in support of a high allocation for the Land & Water Conservation Fund.

PREDATOR BEETLE PROGRAM DIVERSIFIES

Work suppressing the Hemlock Woolly Adelgid (HWA) is moving forward full tilt in the Chattooga watershed, with this season’s releases of the predator beetle Sasajiscymnus tsugae projected to double last year’s numbers. The Chattooga Conservancy is working with Clemson University entomologists and other HWA biological control project partners placing 5,000 to 15,000 S. tsugae predator beetles in suitable areas every week. The beetle release schedule started in January and is expected to continue into early July, reaching a total of approximately 200,000 predator beetles set out in the watershed and nearby areas. In addition, the Clemson University insectary has started research and production of another potential HWA biological control agent named Laricobus nigrinus, a small beetle native to the Pacific Northwest that may prove useful in regulating HWA abundance in our area. Like the S. tsugae beetle, L. nigrinus feeds readily on HWA, and offers the additional advantage that its life cycle is more closely in sync with HWA than that of S. tsugae. The first releases of the L. nigrinus beetle in the Chattooga watershed are planned to occur in December 2005. Researchers at Clemson are cultivating L. nigrinus for release in the watershed because there is consensus in the scientific community that successful efforts to control HWA must include the production of an array of beneficial insects.

EYE ON LEGISLATURE

As many would expect in the wake of the 2004 elections, the emboldened congressional majority is continuing work to pass legislation that would weaken many of our bedrock environmental and quality of life protections. For instance, the current House energy bill (H. R. 6) weakens public health protections concerning our air and water quality, opens pristine wilderness areas to oil and gas drilling including the Artic National Wildlife Refuge, creates huge subsidies to log our national forests, and does nothing to save oil and promote clean, renewable energy sources. Then there’s H. R. 1299, deceptively called the “Critical Habitat Enhancement Bill,” which actually weakens protections for endangered species and their habitat. Also, be aware that the Congressional Joint Committee on Taxation recently proposed a drastic cut on tax benefits for donations of land and conservation easements. In sum, the committee, which is a body looked to by congress for expert advice on tax matters, proposed that tax deductions for a conservation easement be limited to no more than 33% of the easement’s appraised value, and that no deduction be allowed for an easement on a property used by the taxpayer as their personal residence. As these and other pieces of legislation geared to undercutting environmental and quality of life protections make their way through congress, speak out! The majority of Americans support clean air and water, preserving our national forests for wildlife habitat and all kinds of recreation, and tax incentives for conservation—not for wasting our environment. Please make your opinion known to your representatives in congress, and that their votes will affect your votes come re-election time.