Vital Funds For Conservation

This Union Tribune editorial endorses the Conservation and Reinvestment Act (CARA) currently up for consideration in the U.S. Senate before the Oct. 6 adjournment. CARA represents the largest federal investment in parks, wildlife protection, outdoor urban recreation, coastline preservation and open space. It is a resource of $3 billion a year for 15 years that comes from offshore oil and gas leases, not taxes, and California would receive nearly $325 million a year from it. Since the early 1980's, CARA funds have been siphoned off to other purposes besides conservation, and it is time to return the money to its original intentions, the editorial states.