A public-lands bill championed last year by former Colorado Republican Sen. Cory Gardner will ensure that a crucial federal conservation program remains fully operational for years to come — but only because a new Democratic administration has now stepped in to honor the legislation’s intent, advocates say. President Joe Biden’s Department of the Interior announced on Thursday that it had reversed a last-minute move by the Trump administration that critics called a “giant step backward” for the Land and Water Conservation Fund, a federal land-acquisition program established by Congress in 1964.
“The Land and Water Conservation Fund has been crucial to protecting public lands, conserving wildlife habitats, and improving access to outdoor recreation,” Shannon Estenoz, the principal deputy assistant secretary overseeing Interior’s wildlife and parks agencies, said in a statement. “Interior’s actions today affirm our support for one of America’s most successful and popular conservation programs.” The secretarial order signed on Thursday by acting Interior Secretary Scott de la Vega revokes a previous directive issued by his predecessor, Trump appointee and Colorado native David Bernhardt, shortly after the 2020 election. Advocates say it restores the intent of Gardner’s Great American Outdoors Act, which was passed by bipartisan majorities in Congress in July 2020 and became a centerpiece of the one-term GOP senator’s unsuccessful reelection campaign. To view the full article visit Colorado Newsline.