As many Pennsylvanians breathed a sigh of relief over the tentative budget deal, some parties were left disgruntled.

The pending budget would cut the Keystone Recreation, Park and Conservation Fund by $40 million, or nearly 50 percent. Senate Bill 913 would be the largest cut in funding for recreation and conservation in the state's history.

The funds taken from the Keystone Fund would be put toward the Hazardous Sites Cleanup Program -- a cause that Gov. Ed Rendell has termed the most pressing environmental funding challenge facing Pennsylvania.

Environmental interest groups have raised their hackles over the reallocation. They urged legislators to find funds elsewhere.

"Cleaning up hazardous sites is an important issue; protecting green spaces is an important issue," said Andy Loza, executive director of the Pennsylvania Land Trust Association. "It makes no sense why one or the other has to be chosen.

"In a $27 billion-plus budget, there are all sorts of options for dealing with needs."

Pat Henderson, aide to state Sen. Mary Jo White, R-Venango, and executive director of the Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee, said the proposal to divert Keystone funds represented a compromise between the governor and the Legislature.

"The governor was not willing to use general fund revenue, and the Legislature wasn't willing to increase taxes and fees," said Mr. Henderson. "Given that, we had to look at an existing revenue stream."

They found that stream in the 15 percent of the realty transfer tax that supports the Keystone Fund.

Senators favoring the cut have claimed that, despite a slowing in the real estate market, that revenue source has enjoyed sustained growth, and siphoning money from Keystone would not harm recreation and conservation efforts.

"Quite candidly, these groups have done very well lately," said Mr. Henderson. "There's been a slowing [in the real estate market], but the reality is that there's still a significant amount of funding."

Mr. Loza disagreed, saying that the legislators who established the fund in 1993 meant for it to grow at the pace of the real estate market.

"The wise folks in the 1993 General Assembly purposefully created a fund that would grow as realty transfer taxes grew, recognizing that park and recreation costs would increase with time," he said.

He estimated that the housing market slump has shrunk Keystone's revenues by $19 million, in addition to the proposed $40 million cut it now faces.

The budget decrease would threaten dozens of county and local municipal park improvement projects, from playground rehabilitation in Natrona to parkland acquisition in South Fayette.

"Senate Bill 913 would have an immediate and unambiguous hit on projects," said Mr. Loza.

Environmental interest groups are urging the governor to block the Keystone Fund cuts. But with only days left until the budget is approved, time for negotiation was running out.