President's budget sells out America's wildlife and wild places

WASHINGTON (May 23, 2017) – President Trump has released the administration’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2018. Contrary to its title, “A New Foundation for American Greatness,” it sells out one of our nation’s greatest legacies, our wildlife and natural heritage. The budget slashes the non-defense discretionary budget, which is the main source of funding for agencies that conserve and protect our environment and natural resources including the Department of the Interior and the U.S. Forest Service. The budget also proposes to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas drilling. Finally, the budget includes funding for President Trump’s proposed border wall, which would have major consequences for native species like jaguars that need to move across the U.S.-Mexico border.

Statement from Former Defenders of Wildlife President and CEO Jamie Rappaport Clark:

“This budget is death by a billion cuts. It would gut the federal government’s ability to protect the health, safety and prosperity of all Americans. We’re particularly stunned by the devastating cuts to programs that conserve our natural resources and our lands, water and wildlife.

“You cannot make America great by destroying our natural heritage. President Trump’s proposal threatens the destruction of one of America’s last great wild places. As the crown jewel of America's public lands system, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge contains vital habitat for iconic species like polar bears, caribou, muskoxen and 200 species of migratory birds from all 50 states, and the native Gwich’in people depend on the land for their subsistence economy and cultural identity.

“This budget proposes drilling in one iconic area, the Arctic refuge, to help fund a damaging and useless border wall in another fragile landscape. It’s a bad deal to sell-off and sell-out vital wildlife habitat on public lands. Once these wild places are gone, they are gone for good. Furthermore, the Trump budget includes devastating and unacceptable cuts to vital conservation programs that are essential to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s mission of protecting, recovering and managing our nation’s native wildlife and helping to conserve wildlife globally.

“We owe it to our children and grandchildren to be good stewards of our environment and leave behind a legacy of protecting our air, land, water and wildlife. But this budget is a disaster that flies in the face of those values. We urge Congress to reject the President’s budget, block the border wall and stand up for the Arctic refuge.”