WASHINGTON — Thanks to prodding by Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, Senate appropriators on Wednesday tucked $36 million for Utah public lands projects and $42 million for Utah agriculture projects into spending bills winding through Congress.

Bennett, the only Utahn on an appropriations committee, is also chairman of its agriculture subcommittee. He took advantage of that spot to win funding in the annual agriculture appropriations bill for Utah projects ranging from $1 million to fight Mormon cricket infestations to $20 million for drought relief and water improvement projects.

In the separate Interior Appropriations bill, Bennett won funding ranging from $5 million to help pay the federal share of the new Museum of Natural History at the University of Utah to $509,000 to build a new 60-unit campground near Moab just outside of Canyonlands National Park.

About such wins, Bennett said, "Despite limited funding this year, I am pleased with the amount of assistance this bill provides Utah's agriculture community. This is particularly important as our state continues to face extreme drought conditions and other challenges burdening Utah farmers and ranchers."

Both the agriculture and Interior appropriations bills now go to the full Senate for consideration.

Among other Utah projects funded in the agriculture bill:

• $1 million for the Dry Creek Flood Restoration Project at Dimple Dell Park in Sandy.

• $249,000 for work on chronic wasting disease affecting deer and elk.

• Funding for numerous projects at Utah State University, including $1 million for the Utah Botanical Center; $900,000 for the Drought Management Initiative; $1.14 million for its Air Quality Research Program; $1.6 million for its Biotechnology and Genomics Research Center; $1.3 million for its Jack Berryman Institute on wildlife disease threats; $750,000 for its Vegetation Manipulation Research; $225,000 for its Pasture and Forage Research; and $1.67 million for its Bee Biology and Systematics Laboratory.

Among other Utah public lands projects that Bennett tucked into the Interior Appropriations bill are:

• $750,000 for the Sand Hollow Recreation area in Washington County to develop new campgrounds, trails and a staging area for horses and off-road vehicles.

• $3.2 million for an initiative to restore habitat for the threatened sage grouse.

• Projects to buy land to prevent development in some pristine areas, including $750,000 for the Pioneer Ranch near Park City; $2.3 million for viewshed near Zion National Park; and $1 million for private land in the high Uinta Mountains.

• $560,000 for a new dinosaur bone storage building at the Cleveland Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry in Price.

• $3 million for increased Bureau of Land Management activities overseeing oil and gas development, including money to speed the processing of drilling applications and environmental studies.

• $100,000 to restore a Fish and Wildlife Service staff position in Cedar City to assist in efforts to recover the desert tortoise and the prairie dog.

• $184,000 to add sanitation facilities at the popular Browns Park and Massey Junction recreation areas near Vernal.

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