Sign-on to Defend Conservation Funding, Get Ready to Rally

In July, House appropriators proposed severe cuts to many conservation programs, including the North American Wetlands Conservation Act, Land and Water Conservation Fund, and Forest Legacy Program. The Senate is preparing to take up its version of the 2012 Interior Appropriations bill and we are urging them to restore funding to these critical programs -- as they did this past spring for the 2011 budget -- but that will only happen if we work together to demonstrate support for these programs. Hill staff have told us that a letter signed by 1,000 organizations could have a real impact -- please help us deliver!

Add Your Land Trust to Our Conservation Funding Coalition Letter

Whether you rely on farm bill programs like FRPP and GRP, Interior programs like NAWCA and LWCF or other federal conservation programs, we hope you'll join with the Alliance and 640 other conservation, recreation and historic preservation organizations in signing the America's Voice for Conservation Recreation and Preservation coalition letter.

This is your second chance to sign the coalition letter we first shared in our June 20 alert. It avoids mentioning specific programs or bills so that it can be used wherever conservation funding is under attack -- in the Interior bill, the deficit reduction super-committee, or elsewhere.

To sign the letter, simply email the name of your organization or business to alyssa_way@tws.org.

Even if you rely on just one program, we need to team up with other land, water, ocean and wildlife programs. Together they comprise just 1.26% of the federal budget and have grown only 2% over the last 30 years. Disproportionate cuts to conservation will permanently harm our natural heritage and the economy, without substantially improving the fiscal picture.

This week the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation is releasing a new study that shows conservation, recreation and historic preservation spending supports at least 8.4 million jobs, $1.06 trillion in economic activity and $100 billion in tax revenues! We hope you'll share copies of the report with your public officials.

Learn more about efforts to preserve federal funding for land conservation at Rally workshop E15: Sunday, October 16 | 1:30pm - 3:00pm | Room 203B.

Get Ready for Policy Sessions at Rally, Help Set Our Priorities

We hope you're planning to join us for Rally 2011, the National Land Conservation Conference, this week in Milwaukee, WI. It's not too late to come -- walk-in registrations are welcome! Visit www.lta.org/rally or email rally@lta.org for more information.

Rally includes over a hundred different events, including more than a dozen workshops related to public policy. In this email, we're eager to highlight a few sessions where your participation, questions and feedback are particularly important to our policy success in the year ahead. Click here for a full listing of policy related sessions at Rally.

• A19: Getting Public Officials to Support Land Conservation in A Volatile Fiscal And Political Climate | Saturday, Oct 15 | 10:00am - Noon | Room 102E -- Learn practical pointers for engaging public officials at all levels of government. The centerpiece of this session is a case study of the successful campaign to create and defend the Wisconsin Working Lands Initiative (WLI).
• B18: Public Policy 2011 Update and 2012 Forum | Saturday, Oct 15 | 1:30pm - 3:30pm | Room 102E -- Hear an update on our current policy priorities and help us chart a course for 2012. Please review our policy options memo and speak out at the session or respond online at www.surveymonkey.com/s/AlliancePriorities. Can’t make this session? Join us for a beer on Saturday evening.
• C18: Working with the IRS | Saturday, Oct 15 | 4:00pm - 5:30pm | Room 102E -- A panel discussion with IRS staff involved in managing conservation easement issues. Submit questions in advance to policy@lta.org.
• Featured Session: 2012 Farm Bill Strategies and Updates | Sunday, Oct 16 | 3:30pm - 5:00pm | Room 102E -- Come participate in an interactive discussion with NRCS officials and Alliance staff about the upcoming Farm Bill, NRCS Conservation Easement Programs and NRCS Conservation Initiatives.
• Other sessions feature state funding campaigns, electric transmission lines, economic benefits of conservation, advanced tax strategies, and more. Click here for more highlights.

See you in Milwaukee!

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