The Ecology Center
801 Sherwood, Suite B
Missoula, MT 59802
(406) 728- 5733

								March 31, 1999

Senator Barbara Boxer
U.S. Senate
Senator@boxer.senate.gov

Dear Senator Boxer,

	I am writing regarding S.446, which would mandate permanent and full appropriation to the Land and Water Conservation Fund.  This letter is written on behalf of the Ecology Center, to give our full support of this bill.  The Ecology Center is a non-profit, public-interest organization dedicated to protecting the biological diversity of the Northern Rockies region, through forest watch, outreach and GIS programs.     

	The Ecology Center strongly supports S.446, Resources 2000, which would provide badly needed permanent funding to LWC Fund.  The LWCF is an important tool for state and federal land acquisition, through a means other than trading away public lands through land exchanges.  The permanent allocation of funds would allow for the Federal Land agencies to acquire valuable habitats without trading away equally important lands.  Use of the LWCF would allow federal agencies to maintain the federal land base.     

	Land exchanges have been receiving a great deal of media coverage recently,  which has highlighted some of the weakness with the land exchange process.  In September-October 1998, the Seattle Times published a six-part investigative story on land entitled "Trading Away the West."  The Times story publicized the many problems associated with these land deals, including (1) the highly subjective appraisal process used for land trades; (2) political pressure within and upon the agencies to complete trades; (3) the roles of private and non-profit exchange facilitators, and (4) multi-million dollar taxpayer losses that appear to be occurring with great frequency.

	In addition, the USDA Inspector General (IG) is currently conducting audits on land trades in Regions 3, 4, and 5; the Department of Interior IG has also audited several large exchanges.  Both IGs have found very serious problems in the way land exchanges are implemented-it is clear from their findings that those who are gaining from these trades are not the American people, but private and corporate land traders.

	The Ecology Center is not advocating that the LWCF be used to buy out every major landowner whose management plans threaten environmentally sensitive or rare habitats.  Instead we are recommending that the LWCF would be a sound alternative to the land exchange program that is being used extensively by our federal land managers, and is resulting in significant losses of biological wealth.  S.446 would be the first step in the critically needed reform of the land exchange process.

	Thank you for taking the time to read through my letter.

Sincerely,
Deborah Kmon
Ecosystem Defense
The Ecology Center
Missoula, MT 59802
dkmon@wildrockies.org

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