Fish and Wildlife Service: Compensation to Local Governments

Lands eligible for NWRF are largely in the National Wildlife Refuge System, but certain other FWS lands are included as well. Under the 1935 Refuge Revenue Sharing Act (16 U.S.C. §715s), NWRF was conceived as a program to share revenues from activities such as grazing or timber harvest on refuge lands, and such receipts are permanently appropriated to the fund. However, revenue-generating activities were (and are) often incompatible with refuge purposes, and many refuges generate no revenue. In such situations, counties received no compensation from the federal government for the presence of the federal land, and to address this perceived gap in the program, the law was amended in 1978 to add other payment criteria. It became apparent almost immediately that revenues were not sufficient to meet the payment formula specified in the amended law. Congress has repeatedly appropriated additional funds to supplement the revenue stream. But the additional amounts appropriated have not met the formula level, particularly in the last decade. Recent Administration proposals for substantial funding reductions have intensified congressional interest. The Administration argues that the savings are justified and that refuges add few costs to counties and provide economic benefits from increased tourism.


This package includes following files:

#	File Name	Document Date	Order ID:	Number of Pages	Price
1	R42404.pdf	Nov 01, 2012	R42404	15	$29.95	Add to Cart

Older Versions:

Fish and Wildlife Service: Compensation to Local Governments  [Order No: R42404  Release Date: Mar 13,2012  Pages: 15]