House lawmakers during five separate hearings this week will take a fine-tooth comb to the Obama administration's budget request for land management agencies, including proposed boosts for land acquisition and cuts to construction projects.

A top concern among Republicans is the administration's desired $900 million for the Land and Water Conservation Fund, which supports land purchases and assists states in promoting recreation. The request would provide full funding to the program for only the second time since its creation in the 1960s, according to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar.

Both House and Senate Republicans have made clear their opposition to land acquisition at a time when Interior agencies face nearly $20 billion in deferred maintenance projects, a number estimated in a Government Accountability Office report issued last week.

"The government has a responsibility to maintain and care for our existing lands before spending money we don't have to acquire more and more and more land," said Rep. Doc. Hastings (R-Wash.), chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee. That panel's public lands subcommittee will hear testimony on the Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service and Forest Service budgets this week.

The House Appropriations subpanel that oversees Interior also will hold hearings on the three agencies this week.

The land acquisition proposal has support among leading Democrats in the Senate and was warmly received by conservation groups when announced in mid-February.

"We're pleased that in a challenging budget year the administration has prioritized investments in our national parks," Tom Kiernan, president of the National Parks Conservation Association, said in a statement.

The budget request includes roughly $2.9 billion for NPS, an increase of nearly $138 million over current funding levels. The agency's operations budget would receive about $2.3 billion, an increase of $35 million over current spending, but not enough to address an operations shortfall of more than $600 million, Kiernan said.

"We're grateful that our national parks would have the funding they need to keep visitor centers open and park rangers on the ground," he said.

Notably, the $900 million for land acquisitions -- which includes $73.7 million for NPS -- contrasts sharply with a House GOP proposal last month to cut LWCF funding by $348 million under the White House's fiscal 2011 request (E&E Daily, Feb. 10).

Funding for BLM includes a proposed $20 million boost for land acquisition and an additional $30 million increase for programs under the White House's Great Outdoors initiative to improve public lands access and connect youth to the outdoors. But the Obama budget would cut BLM's construction budget by more than 50 percent.

"The president's budget certainly attempts to make tough choices, but it recognizes that Americans want access to our public lands," said Kevin Mack, National Landscape Conservation System campaign director for the Wilderness Society.

NLCS -- BLM's primary conservation program that includes wilderness, national monuments and scenic rivers -- would receive a $15 million boost under the Obama proposal, but was the target of an amendment by Utah Republican Rep. Rob Bishop last month to strip all funding for the program. That amendment was withdrawn before receiving a vote.

House Republicans also are likely to press Salazar on his administration's "wild lands" proposal to provide temporary protections for wilderness-quality lands across BLM's roughly 250 million acres.

Bishop, chairman of the House's public lands subcommittee that will review the NPS and BLM proposals this week, is an outspoken critic of the policy. So is Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho), who leads the Interior Appropriations Subcommittee and last month inserted language to defund the policy into the House's long-term continuing resolution that would keep federal agencies running for the remainder of fiscal 2011.

The BLM budget also proposes cutting $17 million from a program to convey federal lands to Native Alaskans, a cost-cutting pitch that drew opposition last week from Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski at a budget hearing.

"I am very concerned that the department has recommended a 54 percent reduction in the Alaska Conveyance Program," Murkowski told Salazar on Wednesday during a the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing. "Given that most of those people waiting for their conveyances will now have to wait 40 to 50 more years at this proposed funding level, I'm not only going to ask you to explain this choice here today, I'm also going to ask you to come to Alaska and explain to the people who have waited patiently for so many years why they should now wait 40 or 50 more."

Environmental groups and renewable energy proponents have praised the administration's proposed $73 million to permit wind, solar and geothermal energy both onshore and offshore in hopes of tripling to 10,000 megawatts the amount of renewable energy on public lands by 2012. The request is an increase of $14 million above current levels.

Forest Service management

A hearing Thursday before Simpson's subcommittee will include testimony from government oversight officials on major management challenges at the Forest Service.

A March 2009 report by GAO found the agency lacks strategies for using its wildland fire management funds effectively and recommended development of a cohesive, long-term strategy that includes improved selection of hazardous fuel reductions.

The report also highlighted deficient data on program activities and costs at multiple land management programs, including timber sales, the rehabilitation of burnt lands and administrative functions. More broadly, GAO warned that the Forest Service has persistently failed to provide accurate financial information and report how it is spending its appropriations.

According to Andy Stahl, executive director of Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics, a likely sticking point among Republicans on the subcommittee will be whether environmental laws have blocked the Forest Service from effectively carrying out its programs.

"The big management challenge that the current majority has railed against is conflicting environmental laws," Stahl said. "The notion that the Forest Service, if not encumbered by environmental rules, would do a better job of managing the forest."

"We've seen the laws win out over the past 20 years," Stahl added. The result: Timber cutting has been reduced from about 12 billion board-feet per year to less than 3 billion board-feet per year, he said.

"That's beyond the expectation of even the most radical environmental groups," he said.

Schedule: The Natural Resources BLM and Forest Service hearing is tomorrow at 10 a.m. in 1324 Longworth.

Witnesses: Bob Abbey, director, BLM; Tom Tidwell, chief, Forest Service.

Schedule: The Appropriations NPS hearing is Wednesday, March 9, at 9:30 a.m. in B-308 Rayburn.

Witnesses: Jon Jarvis, director, NPS; C. Bruce Sheaffer, comptroller, NPS; Margaret O'Dell, deputy director of operations, NPS.

Schedule: The Appropriations BLM hearing is Thursday, March 10, at 9:30 a.m. in B-308 Rayburn.

Witness: Abbey, director, BLM.

Schedule: The Natural Resources NPS hearing is Thursday, March 10, at 10 a.m. in 1324 Longworth.

Witness: Jarvis, director, NPS.

Schedule: The Appropriations Forest Service management hearing is Thursday, March 10, at 2 p.m. in B-308 Rayburn.

Witnesses: Anu Mittal, director, natural resources and environment team, GAO; and Phyllis Fong, inspector general, Department of Agriculture.