The Colorado native praised Congress for permanently reauthorizing LWCF in February during his nomination hearing this morning before the Energy and Natural Resources panel.

Sens. Steve Daines (R-Mont.) and Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) both criticized the White House’s latest budget recommendation for LWCF, which essentially zeroes out the program (E&E Daily, March 12).

“Frankly, I gotta tell you this, when I saw the president’s budget, it looked embarrassingly low on funding for LWCF,” Daines told Bernhardt.

“I’m a believer in the program, and I want to move it forward,” said Bernhardt, who attended the March White House ceremony signing into law a massive public lands package that included permanent reauthorization for LWCF (E&E News PM, March 12).

“My view of the budget is that it’s the beginning of the discussion,” Bernhardt added.

LWCF uses revenue from offshore oil and gas drilling primarily to preserve and maintain the nation’s parks, forests, recreation areas and cultural sites. It’s a favorite of many members of Congress because it’s a program that doesn’t use taxpayer dollars and is popular with constituents across the country.

The authorized funding level is $900 million, but it has hardly ever been funded at that level. The omnibus spending bill that President Trump signed into law in February gave LWCF $435 million for fiscal 2019.

Bernhardt yesterday signed a secretarial order creating an Interior task force to “facilitate and prioritize” the department’s “timely implementation” of the public lands package, officially named the John D. Dingell Jr. Conservation, Management and Recreation Act.

Aside from LWCF, the law contains some 120 different provisions that boost public lands access for sportsmen and women, designate more than 1.3 million acres of new wilderness, add to the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System, and increase the size of national parks by more than 42,000 acres.

The Interior task force, chaired by the associate deputy secretary, directs top department leadership to outline a timeline and implementation plan for the Dingell Act.

“We are taking a concrete step to ensure the Department efficiently and fully implements the most comprehensive public lands management legislation in a decade,” Bernhardt said in a statement today on the order. “We will continue to work to strike the proper balance for land and resources management, increase access for hunting, fishing, and recreation, and create economic prosperity while protecting and preserving America’s treasures.”

Energy and Natural Resources Chairwoman Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) told reporters after the hearing that she wants to move toward a committee confirmation vote on Bernhardt as soon as she can, possibly as early as next week.