Among the highlights of the list:
* $15.1 million to purchase the last privately owned sections of the
Appalachian Trail. Although most of the famous hiking trail is
on
federal lands, there has been a long-standing push to secure the
remaining privately owned parcels, mostly in Virginia, Maryland,
Vermont and Maine.
* $13 million to buy a safety zone for Yellowstone National Park's bison
herds. Nearly half of the park's 3,000 buffalo died last winter
from
starvation or were shot after wandering off parklands. The
Administration intends to purchase land or easements in the 13,000
acre
Royal Teton Ranch, which borders the park to the north.
* $86 million to purchase land and demolish one of two dams along
Washington state's Elwha River. The Administration intends to
eventually destroy both dams to help restore the imperiled salmon
populations.
* $20 million to purchase part of New Mexico's scenic Baca Ranch
wilderness. This unique grasslands area near Santa Fe is home
to one
of the largest elk herds in the country, and the Administration hopes
to eventually incorporate the entire 95,000-acre ranch into the
adjacent Santa Fe National Forest.
* $11.1 million to purchase private in-holdings in six Civil War
battlefields, including Antietam and Monocacy in Maryland,
Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania in Virginia, Gettysburg in
Pennsylvania and Stones River in Tennessee.
* $6.4 million to purchase private holdings in the Cumberland Island
National Seashore, a barrier island off Georgia. The island is
home
to wild horses, wild boar and panthers.
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