Contact: Ernie Blazar 202-224-7627 Shana Stribling 224-0309
Thursday, October 11, 2001

WASHINGTON - Senator Kit Bond today announced that he has secured almost $5.5 million in federal funds for Missouri environmental projects. The funds are contained in the conference report for the Department of the Interior Appropriations Bill for FY 2002.

“This money will help preserve Missouri’s environment, “ Bond said. “We have a responsibility to safeguard our natural heritage.”

Among the Missouri environmental projects funded in this bill by Bond:

* $155,000 to the University of Missouri-St. Louis for the preservation of John Audubon’s Birds of America, a national historical treasure that has been an important influence on the American conservation movement.

* $2 million for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to buy and preserve over 1,680 acres of sensitive wetlands in the Big Muddy Wildlife Refuge located in the Missouri river flood-plain.

* $500,000 to build an historical and educational nature center along the Lewis and Clark Heritage Trail in St. Charles, Missouri. This rustic facility will educate visitors about both the Lewis and Clark Expedition and the Missouri River ecosystem, and will include a Wetland Nature Area and historical examples of river transportation.

* $1.5 million for the U.S. National Forest Service to buy 500 acres of treasured lands for the Mark Twain National Forest.

* $748,000 to determine the environmental impact of mining in the Mark Twain National Forest. The U.S. Department of the Interior does not have enough science to make decisions about the Mark Twain National Forest. Bond secured the funds to underwrite adequate science.

* $300,000 for the Columbia Environmental Research Center to study the insufficiently understood life-cycle and environmental needs of the Pallid Sturgeon.

* $250,000 to plan for a joint Fish and Wildlife Service and United States Geological Survey headquarters and visitor’s center. Both the Big Muddy Wildlife Refuge and the United States Geological Survey perform many important services to the mid-Missouri community, but need a central facility from which to operate and serve Missourians.