Land and Water Conservation Fund passes key Senate committee

All eyes now look toward end-of-year negotiations to reauthorize and fund this important recreation and conservation program

 

The Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF), a legacy fund that has contributed hundreds of millions of dollars to recreation and conservation project in every state over the last five decades, expired last weekend when Congress failed to take action and reauthorize this widely popular program. LWCF, considered the premier federal recreation and conservation program, reinvested offshore energy revenues into recreation and conservation projects benefitting local economies in all 50 states.

However, today (Oct. 2) an LWCF reauthorization bill sponsored by U.S. Senators Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and Richard Burr (R-NC)—with

47 co-sponsors—passed a key Senate committee joining a similar bill that has passed on the House side that would dedicate a minimum of $10 million annually to “projects that secure recreational public access to existing Federal public land for hunting, fishing, and other recreational purposes.” Hopefully these bills will now proceed to a full vote by year’s end to reinstate this important program.

Stay tuned to publiclandsolutions.org for more LWCF news. Read about previous attempts to permanently reauthorize the fund here. For an example of how LWCF funds are used, see this previous PLS comment letter.