Land & Water Appropriations...

Congress passed the Interior and Environment Appropriations Bill for fiscal year 2010. The bill provides a $4.7 billion increase over 2009 and a large chunk will fund the Land and Water Conservation Fund as well as water infrastructure. Follow the above link to read the official summary. I haven't delved into the gory details yet but they can be found here.

I did learn from a separate source that the legislation included $750,000 to the USFWS for the purchase of new tracts of land to expand the recently designated Cherry Valley National Wildlife Refuge, which is located in Monroe County and near the Water Gap.