March 2012 - Parks & Recreation - 26

advocacy uPdatE continued from page 23

in Alaska to show both of them the programs in the bill that are
important to me and to all Alaskans.
How important are local outdoor recreational resources
to the people of Alaska, and how has the LWCF State
Assistance program benefitted the citizens of the state?
Having been born and raised in Alaska, I share the passion my
fellow Alaskans have for the outdoors. Our state is full of wonderful opportunities to get outside and explore nature. Too often Alaskans see access to federally owned land in the state
restricted. The State Assistance program has been successful
in Alaska because it's about land for use by Alaskans. The program has provided roughly $34,198,938 to 279 projects in Alaska since 1965.
For FY12, the House Interior Appropriations
Subcommittee provided only $2 million for the LWCF
State Assistance program while the Senate's draft bill
provided $45 million. In conference the Senate number
prevailed. You were instrumental to securing the FY12
funding. Can you tell us about the conference process
and why you fought so hard to protect LWCF State
Assistance funding in FY12?
The FY12 conference process was somewhat unusual because
of the vast difference-almost $2 billion in total-between the
House bill and the Senate draft bill. Once Congress was able to

Lisa murkowski hosts a tour of the
colville river delta.

negotiate spending levels during the debt-ceiling negotiations,
we were able to fund the State Assistance program at the higher
level. I'm extremely pleased that the Senate number prevailed
in conference because of the important role the State Assistance
program has played for over 40 years in outdoor recreation and
land preservation throughout our country. The great thing about
the State Assistance program is the one-to-one match that is received for every dollar of federal investment and the flexible project opportunities it allows. While nearly two-thirds of Alaska is
federally owned (which is sometimes a source of consternation),
I realize there are many states with minimal federal ownership.
The program allows state and local governments, along with local
partners, to create outdoor recreation opportunities for citizens in
virtually any part of every state. That's not a hard thing to support.
As appropriators are going through the annual
appropriations process, how important is it for
appropriators to hear from constituents and what type
of information is helpful for constituents to provide?
It's extremely important to hear from constituents and state leaders each year on every public policy issue, and the State Assistance program is no exception. I would like to say that every
member of Congress knows everything about every single issue
or program, but that's not the case. We need to be reminded of
the benefits (or drawbacks in some cases) and updated on recent
projects occurring in our states.

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Parks & recreation M A R C H

2 0 1 2 w w w . N R P A . O R G

In January 2013, across the board agency cuts are
scheduled to take place as a result of the debt ceiling
legislation enacted in 2011. What impact will this have
on the work of appropriations subcommittees for FY13?
I think we all recognize from last year that tough choices will
have to be made when it comes to our work on the appropriations committee. We will have to do more oversight to ensure
that the programs that we fund are working as efficiently as possible. Simply put, the government is going to have to figure out
how to do more with less money. That is something that virtually
every American family can understand in these difficult times.
It will be a challenge but I look forward to working with Senator
Reed to craft the most responsible Interior bill that serves the
needs of the American people.
stacEy PiNE is NRPA Vice President of Government Aﬀairs.

March 2012 - Parks & Recreation

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