US agency cancels Trump policy on conservation purchases

BILLINGS, Mont. — U.S. Interior Department officials on Thursday canceled a Trump administration directive that gave local and state officials power to block purchases of land and water for conservation under a long-standing federal program.

Acting Interior Secretary Scott de la Vega rescinded a November order from former Secretary David Bernhardt that had been criticized by Republicans and Democrats, who said the Trump administration ignored their wishes when it changed a program that’s paid for billions of dollars in conservation work over more than five decades.

“Interior’s actions today affirm our support for one of America’s most successful and popular conservation programs,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Interior

Secretary Shannon Estenoz in a statement. “We look forward to further strengthening this successful program to ensure that all communities – from hikers and sportsmen to urban and underserved communities – have access to nature and the great outdoors.”

In November, officials announced that $125 million in congressionally authorized spending under the conservation program would buy up private property inside the boundaries of places including Alaska’s Glacier Bay National Park, Kentucky’s Green River National Wildlife Refuge and Florida’s Everglades region.

Besides giving local officials veto power, Bernhardt’s order also limited land acquisitions to property inside the existing boundaries of parks and refuges, rather than expanding their footprint. Trump administration officials had said the order would have allowed the government to fulfill goals that were set when conservation areas were created, by filling in missing pieces of them.

Notable among the critics of the order was Republican Sen. Steve Daines of Montana, who helped barter a bipartisan agreement that authorized the conservation fund purchases under the Great American Outdoors Act.