The Department of the Interior would receive $13.2 billion, if Congress passes President Obama’s 2016 budget proposal, released Feb. 2.
Some National Park lands and sites associated with the civil rights movement will be protected and restored through a mix of discretionary and mandatory funding. Over $1 billion will go toward preserving and upgrading cultural and historical properties to celebrate the National Park Service’s centennial and the 50th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act.
Nearly $1 billion will support Land and Water Conservation Fund recreational access and landscape conversation programs, with another $1.1 billion earmarked for ecosystem sustainability and resilience research and development. Abandoned mine land reclamation and remediation is allocated $1 billion, and wildfire suppression initiatives will get $200 million.
The budget includes $100 million for renewable energy programs and a 20-percent increase in funding for the Bureau of Land Management’s oil and gas program to support a department-wide push for permitting and revenue distribution oversight and reforms.
The budget request also includes a 12-percent increase in funding for the Bureau of Indian Affairs to expand tribal stewardship, energy development and education reform.
