Letter to the Hon. Jeff Merkley, Chair of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies, and the Hon. Lisa Murkowski, Ranking Member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies - Rosen Leads Colleagues in Calls to Help Combat Wildfires, Provide Data on Climate Change, and Expand Land Conservation Efforts

Letter

Dear Chair Merkley and Ranking Member Murkowski:

As the Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies considers priorities for the
Fiscal Year (FY) 2022 Appropriations bill, we write to request that you include at least $21.131
million for the Bureau of Land Management's (BLM) cultural resources account and at least
$67.674 million for the National Conservation Lands.

The BLM manages the largest and most diverse body of cultural, historical, and paleontological
resources of any federal land management agency. However, BLM has surveyed only about 10
percent of the lands it manages. An increase in funding for BLM's cultural resources
management account of $1.5 million over the FY2021 level will help the BLM fulfill its
statutory requirements to inventory and protect important cultural and paleontological resources,
as well as improve government-to-government relations with Native American Tribes. This
modest increase will also support good paying jobs in Western states and rural communities,
giving the BLM resources to hire additional cultural resource managers, increasing their capacity
to work collaboratively with state historic preservation officers and maintain the National
Cultural Resources Information Management System (NCRIMS).

We also ask that you provide BLM with $67.674 million to manage the system of National
Conservation Lands, which encompasses more than 37 million acres of National Monuments,
National Conservation Areas (NCAs) and similar designations, as well as Wilderness and
Wilderness Study Areas (WSAs). Since its inception in 2000, the National Conservation Lands
have nearly doubled in size, adding over 100 units and 11 million acres of lands to be managed
for conservation, largely the result of acts of Congress. Funding to manage the National
Conservation Lands, however, has not kept pace with the growth of the system. This increase in
funding will permit increased inventory, monitoring and protection of cultural resources,
enhance proper management of all resources, and provide a quality visitor experience.
Furthermore, additional funding will ensure that units in the National Conservation Lands system
are adequately staffed with land managers, law enforcement officers, and cultural resources
experts. This requested increase for FY2022 brings funding in line with the growth of the
National Conservation Lands system, with the opportunity to increase funding in subsequent
fiscal years as the additional designations are signed into law.

Our nation's public lands contain remarkable and irreplaceable ecological, historical, and
cultural resources that reflect thousands of years of human connection to our lands. We look
forward to working with your staff on the FY2022 Interior, Environment and Related Agencies
Appropriations bill. Thank you for your consideration of this request.