Clinton Budget Includes Money For Yellowstone $13 Million Sought To Protect Geysers, Provide Wildlife Range

Yellowstone National Park is among 100 natural or historical sites President Clinton has selected to benefit from money available through the balanced budget agreement.

The budget agreement generated $699 million for the Land Water Conservation Fund for priority acquisitions.

A portion of that was earmarked for protecting Yellowstone National Park from mining. The list transmitted to Congress on Monday details plans for the remaining $329 million.

It designated $13 million to help provide critical winter range for Yellowstone’s elk and bison herds and to protect the park’s geothermal resources, including Old Faithful geyser.

The money will be used to purchase land or easements from the Royal Teton Ranch, a critical winter foraging area just north of Yellowstone in Montana.

The acquisitions will be made from willing sellers and will be managed by the U.S. Forest Service, the National Park Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service or the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, according to a news release.

“I am extremely proud of our success in preserving Yellowstone, the Everglades, Lake Tahoe and the red rock canyons of Utah,” Clinton said in a statement. “The budget I submit today to Congress - the first balanced budget in a generation - will allow us to save even more of America’s natural and historic treasures.”

Clinton’s list, which would preserve sites in 35 states, also calls for spending $2.15 million to complete a lands purchase in Taylor Fork Drainage with the Gallatin National Forest in Montana.

That purchase is designed to protect critical wildlife habitat between Yellowstone National Park and the Lee Metcalf Wilderness Area.

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