The Land and Water Conservation Fund
Over the past fifty years, the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) has been critical to protecting Washington’s most important outdoor places, like working forests at Mount St. Helens, local farmland at Ebey’s Landing, and iconic parks like Mount Rainier and Olympic National Park.
But the program is at risk. Congress is currently debating an Energy Bill that includes permanent reauthorization for the Land and Water Conservation Fund. Congress needs to act before the end of this Congressional session on December 9th to ensure the future of this vital program and the lands it protects.
Critical for Washington’s outdoors
In Washington alone, the Land and Water Conservation Fund has invested over $600 million in more than 600 projects, from the Dungeness Spit on the shores of the Olympic Peninsula, to Friendship Park in the neighborhood streets of Spokane.
For land trusts, LWCF comes into play as a key federal match for working lands protection projects.
The protection of the Pine Creek area of Mount St. Helens, an incredible partnership between Columbia Land Trust, Pope Resources, the US Forest Service and State Department of Natural Resources is a great example. Through the Forest Legacy Program, funded through the LWCF, these partners were able to permanently protect nearly 20,000 acres of working forest and wildlife habitat at the base of Mount St. Helens. The lands will remain a working forest, free from pressure to develop this rich forestland. Learn more about LWCF & Mount St. Helens here.
The Land and Water Conservation Fund is truly a brilliant idea, and does not use a dime of taxpayer dollars. Instead, funding comes from offshore oil and gas drilling royalties. LWCF reinvests proceeds from extraction of one publicly owned resource — oil and gas — in protecting opportunities for all Americans to get outside and enjoy our outdoors. Learn more here.
Take action today
It is urgent that LWCF be reauthorized THIS Congress so that our communities can plan for the future. Here are some things you can do:
- Call your Member of Congress and urge them to continue to fight for the permanent reauthorization of LWCF before the end of the year.
- Add your name to the LWCF Coalition’s sign-on letter. The letter currently has support from over 600 organizations nation-wide!
- Get on social media – share, retweet, and blog your support for the #LWCF!