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[at-l] AT PURCHASE

A friend forwarded the following article to me today.

Washington Post Staff Writer
                  Monday, February 2, 1998; Page A11 

	In one of the biggest splurges in public lands
acquisition in years, the Clinton administration has decided to fund a
$328
million wish list of improvements for national parks and wildernesses,
including a new safe haven for embattled Yellowstone buffalo and a $15
million property purchase along the Appalachian Trail.

                  The projects are among 100 high-priority purchases
that the White House intends to complete using special funds appropriated
in last year's budget agreement, senior administration officials said
yesterday. The list covers 35 states and ranges from Civil War
battlefields to
barrier islands on the Atlantic Coast.

                  The extraordinary number of projects is a bonanza for
sportsmen's groups and other parks boosters who have been clamoring for
some of the improvements for years. But unlike past acquisitions
by the White House, it  was not expected to generate serious controversy,
as
most of the projects are relatively small and the funding has been
approved. 

                  The 100-item priority list was to be presented to
Congress in a letter today, just as President Clinton submits a fiscal
1999
budget that will include a request for another $290 million in land
purchases. 

                  "This list includes areas that are prized nationally
and some little-known backyard wonders," said an administration official.
"Each represents a prime opportunity to preserve a piece of America's
natural and historical legacy."

                  In last year's budget deal, Congress earmarked an
exceptionally large sum, $700 million, for special "high priority
acquisitions," using money from the Land and Water Conservation Fund,
which is fed by
royalties from oil and gas leases. About half of the $700 million will be
used to cement a pair of high-profile land acquisition deals negotiated
by the
White House: a buyout of the proposed New World Gold Mine, near the
border
of Yellowstone National Park, and the purchase of a rare private
grove of old-growth redwood trees in California's Headwaters forest.

Among the highlights of the list:

                  $15.1 million to purchase the last privately owned
sections of the  Appalachian Trail. Although most of the famous hiking
trail is on federal lands, there has been a long-standing push to secure
the remaining privately owned parcels, most of which are in Virginia,
Maryland, Vermont and Maine.

                  $13 million to buy a safety zone for Yellowstone
National Park's bison. Nearly half of the park's 3,000-head buffalo herd
died
last winter from starvation or were shot after wandering off parklands.
To prevent the loss of more animals, the administration intends to
purchase land or easements in the 13,000-acre Royal Teton Ranch, which
borders
the park to the north.

                  $86 million to purchase land and demolish one of two
dams along  Washington state's Elwha River. The administration
intends to eventually destroy both dams to help rebuild the salmon
fishery.

                  $20 million to purchase part of New Mexico's scenic
Baca Ranch wilderness. This unusual grasslands area near Santa Fe
is home to one of the largest elk herds in the country, and the
administration hopes to eventually incorporate the entire 95,000-acre
ranch
into the adjacent SantaFe national forest.

                  $11.1 million to purchase private inholdings in six
Civil War battlefields, including Antietam and Monocacy in Maryland,
Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania in Virginia, Gettysburg in Pennsylvania
and Stones River in Tennessee.

                  $6.4 million to purchase private holdings in the
Cumberland Island National Seashore, a barrier island off Georgia. The
island is home to wild horses, wild boar and panthers.

                           © Copyright 1998 The Washington Post Company

--------- End forwarded message ----------

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