Budget Proposal Reflects the Realities of Climate Change on Public Lands

Last week, President Obama proposed his budget for 2010.  That budget included $12 billion for the Department of the Interior, giving the agency an extra nudge to manage our nation's lands for climate change while also putting them to work combating it.  The budget includes robust investments in both renewable energy as well as money targeted toward making habitats and public lands more resilient to climate change.

Beginning with our most iconic and treasured landscapes, the budget allocates $100 million to the National Park Service for restoration and protection.  With the realization, however, that conservation in a warming world can no longer just be about protecting beautiful and beloved parks, the budget allocates $183 million for increases in clean energy production and climate mitigation efforts.  $50 million of that would go towards spurring responsible and environmentally sensitive development of renewable energy on public lands and $133 million would go towards assessment and adaptation efforts to specifically manage for climate change.  Additonally, $95 million would go to the Land and Water Conservation Fund to protect critical landscapes and endangered species habitat.

These chunks of money represent the committment that the agency has to moving towards responsible energy development and adapting conservation and management techniques to the realities of climate change.

See the full budget here.