Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA) sent a bipartisan letter Tuesday to the chairman and ranking members of the Senate Appropriations Committee and its Subcommittee on Interior, Environment and Related Agencies requesting the full authorization of $10 million in FY2010 funding for the federal Civil War Battlefield Preservation Program.

A 15-member coalition of the U.S. Senate joined Webb in this call for full funding.

Over the program's ten-year life, it has saved more than 15,300 historic acres. Nearly half of the land saved under the program is in Virginia, the home to the greatest number of battles during the war.

Despite the fact that Congress has authorized CWBPP annually at $10 million, the program has only received an average of $3.6 million a year since FY1999.

“As the nation celebrates the bicentennial of President Lincoln’s birth and prepares to commemorate the sesquicentennial of the Civil War, full funding of CWBPP is critical to saving high-priority, threatened Civil War battlefield sites and thus preserving our history for future generations,” writes Webb, a longtime advocate for historical site maintenance.

Through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, supported by Webb, the National Park Service will also invest more than $27 million in 37 projects to upgrade facilities, extend hiking trails and promote energy efficiency at historic sites throughout Virginia.