The Wilderness Society | October 2, 2018
Lawmakers have officially failed to renew the Land and Water Conservation Fund, a program that protects and improves parks and outdoor areas without burdening taxpayers.
UPDATE: On Oct 2, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee advanced out of committee S. 569, a bill to permanently reauthorize and provide full and dedicated funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund. But the full Senate sill needs to vote on this bill.
With the end of official legislative business for the week on Sept. 30, the Land and Water Conservation Fund, or LWCF, is officially out of business.
The LWCF has been used to protect iconic landscapes in all 50 states and for more than 41,000 state and local projects. It draws on revenues from oil and gas drilling on the Outer Continental Shelf to pay into these projects—everything from ensuring access to your favorite trail or climbing area, to protecting critical parts of our national parks from development, to investing in local soccer fields and swimming pools. Doing this, it pays the planet back in some small way (at no cost to taxpayers). It’s a long-running bipartisan success whose expiration is a major disappointment.
“It’s simply inexcusable that Congress would fail to permanently renew this effective, bipartisan program that pays for itself,” said Jamie Williams, president of The Wilderness Society, in a statement. “Every day this 54-year-old program is not reauthorized, American families are shortchanged by $2.4 million that would have been invested in land conservation, local parks and rec centers.”
LWCF also helps support America’s strong outdoor recreation economy, which generates more than $887 billion in annual consumer spending and supports 7.6 million jobs. For example, it helps ensure rock climbers, hunters and anglers have access to exceptional natural landscapes and bolsters the recreation infrastructure rural communities rely on for tourism revenue.
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