COLUMBIA, S.C. - A Senate subcommittee on Wednesday restored funds to a Conservation Bank that seeks to preserve rural landscape, wetlands and historical sites.

The Conservation Bank, which was created in 2002, was scheduled to be fully funded on July 1. Yet the House last month stripped funding because of the state's budget problems, leaving the $10 million agency with $2.5 million.

Sen. Yancey McGill, D-Kingstree, and chairman of the Natural Resources Subcommittee, proposed restoring full funding plus dedicating half the sale proceeds of state-owned lands to the program. The amendment by McGill soon will be presented to the full Finance Committee.

Dell Isham, director of the South Carolina Chapter of the Sierra Club, praised the subcommittee's actions. He said the decision by the House not to fully fund the conservation bank was "both fiscally irresponsible and politically unpopular."