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Show ?.WNV-NC - Western Resources WRAP-UP 1983 national resources budget 8, Helen C Monbr iprM Vhllin Curreipondaat WihntLin-The accent in the 1983 .uril resources buct at the federal is to make the federal lands more uctive. and thereby increase Oeril revenues to the U.S. treasury yi to the stales. This trend shows up particularly in t la budgets of the US. Forest Ser- for which an additional $181 ullon is requested for fiscal liti3. and Bureau of Land Management, for inch an additional $117 million is relied re-lied over the current fiscal year. foe current 19S2 fiscal year ends on w SO, and the new 1983 fiscal year sis on Oct. 1. 12- The President 's sjibodget went to Congress on Feb. 8. U.S. Forest Service budget expert ild Western Resources Wrap-up jfKVO on Feb. 12, "The trend in the S! budget is to emphasize timber of-rir.is. of-rir.is. mineral development and creation revenue-producing proems. pro-ems. Look for increases in recreation es here we now charge them, and f the imposition of recreation charges ; other places" where charges have y previously been made. Some Forest nice program are budgeted for xy cutbacks in 1983 as compared the 12 pregrams. "State and rvi'.e forestry is down by 25 percent, ad research is down by 11 percent," he Several Forest Service research loea-jcs loea-jcs and some 30-35 research pro's pro-'s are scheduled to be phased out. ie research stations likely to be closed ade those at Fayetteville, Ark., gh Acres. Fla., BeltsvUle, Md., anjieite. Mich., Reno, New. Bot-jeaa. Bot-jeaa. X. Dak., Bend, Ore., Sewanee, as., and Lubbock, Texas. Fayet-rZt Fayet-rZt and Reno do w atershed resear-Lubbock resear-Lubbock does wildlife research. ie otters do specialized timber sea.th. INCREASED REVENUES TO UNCLE SAM & STATES rte Administration is stressing .fsr productivity on public land in a budget officers indicate is a long-xaiort long-xaiort to get and keep revenues the L i. Treasury and the states up :m such lands. .An Interior Depart -s: budget official told WRW on Feb. ;the Administration plans to turn over "5E.S"..X) in receipts from mineral Si'es of timber, fees from graz-i graz-i ix other uses of BLM land to the "to. counties and other local govern-;S3 govern-;S3 in 19S3. This compares to -Ets of $593,699,000 in the current 'talyear which are targeted to be 1 to the states and local govern- the Interior budget officer said. 'J U.S. Forest Service budget pro-Is pro-Is the Forest Service will be making '"Imiiion in payments to the states -1 local governments in 1983, $100 - too more than the payments made -these political subdivisions in 1981 " Iprejected for 1982. More than half ' te increased budget request for the Service in 1983 is allocated to payments. -Kerior Secretary James G. Watt l'-he Senate Energy Committee on - V 9 that oil and gas leasing on the iff Continental Shelf (OCS) is bring- ::- in "significant revenue for the t-ffal government. In fact receipts . increased dramatically, from only ribillion in 1978 to $10.1 billion in 1981, first year of the Reagan Ad-r-istration. We estimate receipts of ? billion from nine scheduled sales in : V mainly off Alaska and in the Gulf i Mexico, Watt testified at an over-shearing over-shearing of the Committee. All OCS iseiptsgotothe U.S. shore development of oil and gas and expanded coal production on lands have also boosted receipts, - It stated. "Since 1978, receipts from $ &d gas leasing on public lands have t n from about $340 million to more :J H billion per year projected for s'-tod 1983," he said. "Revenue from J leasing has also increased C Bficantly, from $11.9 million in 1978 s.-' Projected $90.4 million in 1982 and "on in 1983," when the In-. In-. Department plans to hold two 'ease sales in the Fort Union area th7 Dak0ta and eastem Montana t" . San Juan River area of New j. he testified. .'J the Administration has aa' announced an increase in filing Z 0U 311(1 6as leases, it plans to in-j in-j e and expand user charges in :p-'"c recreation and park areas and user fees and charges, and it w revamp the 1974 Payment-In-"t-Taxes law. It is also studying Ik l"8 royalties from 18 to 16 on lands under noncompetitive oil Please, he told the Senate panel. Administration plans increased PJjng for all of its energy leasing knds except the coal leasing Ih. ' here existing data can be ; " r6. Its budget for five leasing vtos -off-shore and on-shore oil 8eothermal, oU shale and tar P'" by ,12'r79'0o. but this is off-I off-I a reduction of $9,928,000 in the I ,eas"ig program for 1983. THE FOREST SERVICE p BUDGET 'kti0 .ice budget for 1983 million, as compared to the RLM budget for 1983 of $1.256.33i,000. Forest Service's liH3 budget is $181 million over the 1982 program, while HLM's is $117 million higher than for the current fiscal year. Rut the trends are the same: increase output on public lands. The 1983 Forest Service budget for minerals management manage-ment at $25 million is 35 percent, or $7 million, over the 1982 program, according accor-ding to Forest Service budget data. The Forest Service plans to complete action on 27,770 lease applications in 1983; this is 28 percent higher than the 1982 program. pro-gram. In addition, the Forest Service plans to remove all of its 4,800 backlog in applications for mineral leases. "Increases "In-creases emphasis will be placed on minerals management, especially coal and petroleum products, geothermal energy and strategic minerals," according accor-ding to the Forest Service data. L'SFS TIMBER OFFERINGS Of course, the biggest boost among programs in the Forest Service budget for 19S3 is for timber sales offerings, which will be at the 12.3 billion board feet (BBF) level, an increase of 1.3 BBF over the 1982 program. The increase in-crease for this activity alone is $85 million, according to budget material. Most of the preparation for new sales will be in roaded areas. To increase timber harvests in future years, the 19S3 Forest Service budget provides for reforesting 405. 000 acres and 311,000 acres to receive timber stand improve- ineiit. This work is to be essentially completed by fiscal year 1985, when tho reforestation backlog is to be completely complete-ly eliminated, except for a million-acre inventory. The Forest Service plans to increase timber sales in all of the National Forest Regions except Alaska, which w ill be at the same level in 1983 as the 1982 program, according to the President's 19K3 budget. Much of the $100 million in additional revenue projected for the states in 1983 will come from the higher mineral receipts and timber receipts on Forest Service-managed National Forest lands. Higher revenue, according to the Forest Service. NOAA BUDGET CUTBACK FOR 1983 Washington (WRW) -The Administration's Ad-ministration's 1983 budget provides for a $71.8 million cutback in the programs of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric At-mospheric Administration (NOAA) over the 1982 level, including the closing of more than 50 weather stations mainly main-ly in the West. N'O.A.A's 1982 programs total $864.3 million for the fiscal year ending on Sept. 30; for the 1983 fiscal year beginning beginn-ing on Oct. 1, 1982, $792 5 million is budgeted. The weather station closings are expected ex-pected to save $6.1 million and eliminate about 350 jobs of both full-time full-time and part-time workers. |