Congress has Terminated the Land and Water Conservation Fund - at least for now.
October 15, 2015

 On September 30, Congress failed to reauthorize the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF). The LWCF was created in 1965 when Congress directed that a portion of the annual receipts from offshore oil and gas leases be placed into a fund for parks, wildlife refuges, and forest preserves. LWCF has put more than $17 billion into the protection of land in every state, contributed support to more than 41,000 state and local park projects, and improved access to the outdoors for millions of people. As of September 2013, over 1.5 million acres of the National Wildlife Refuge System alone were acquired with LWCF dollars.

The LWCF has always had strong bipartisan and support from the public and elected officials. In fact, among those voicing dismay at the loss of the Fund were groups as diverse as:

• VoteVets, a veterans group who noted that use of public wildlands is therapeutic for those dealing with the aftereffects of war (known as “walking off the war”), and
• HECHO, an outdoor recreation group based in the Hispanic community who pointed out that the LWCF “helps with conservation of historic places where Hispanic families have lived for generations”.

Congress can reauthorize the LWCF and promises have been made to consider reauthorization this year. You can contact your elected officials to let them know how you feel about reinstating the Land and Water Conservation Fund. Contact information for your House and Senate representatives is available on the NPCC Action Center page.

To learn more about the Land and Water Conservation Fund, see the LWCF Coalition, the National Wildlife Refuge Coalition or coverage of the debate in the High Country News. The High Country News article includes a link to a wonderful interactive map showing LWCF contributions to National Parks nationwide.

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