Land & Water Conservation Fund

Issue brief:

Fifty years ago President Lyndon Johnson signed the Land and Water Conservation Act into law, creating the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) to build and expand public parks and forests. The idea was to get the American people outdoors to recreate and become more physically fit. If national parks are our greatest idea, the LWCF is the bank account that brings the greatest idea to life.

Since 1964 LWCF has funded thousands of projects at the federal, state and municipal levels. In New Hampshire, it has funded state and municipal parks from Coos County to the sea. In fact, through the end of 2018, our state had received a total of $165.4 million in LWCF funds since the program’s establishment. LWCF has funded major additions to the White Mountain National Forest and the establishment of the Lake Umbagog National Wildlife Refuge. It has funded Forest Legacy projects, placing permanent conservation easements on privately owned forest lands, like the 146,100 acre Connecticut Headwaters conservation easement in Coos County, and the Moose Mountains Reservation (owned by the Forest Society) in Middleton and Brookfield.

The major funding source for LWCF is revenue the federal government receives from offshore oil and gas leases to private energy developers. The idea is to invest dollars received from the depletion of natural resources under the sea into the permanent conservation of natural resources on the terrestrial United States. Congress has created a dedicated fund for LWCF, directing that the first $900 million received each year in lease revenues from the Outer Continent Shelf (OCS) leasing program be directed to LWCF. Unfortunately, Congress rarely appropriated the full $900 million authorized each year. In fact, LWCF had been fully funded only two times in the program’s entire history. In response, LWCF advocates pushed Congress to permanently authorize and to fully fund the LWCF to its maximum authorization level of $900 million a year.

The members of New Hampshire’s Congressional delegation have all been active champions of this effort. Because of the support of Senators Shaheen and Hassan and Cong. Kuster and Cong. Pappas Congress passed with overwhelming bipartisan support S.47, the Natural Resources Management Act in 2019, which permanently authorized the LWCF.

The enactment of S. 47 demonstrated that the long-term protection of the country’s landscapes and unique natural areas is a shared goal for many Americans including outdoor businesses and recreationists, hunters and fishermen, veterans, conservationists, parks advocates, ranchers and working forest organizations like the Forest Society. Building on the momentum behind that achievement, the LWCF campaign next pushed for the passage of the Great American Outdoors Act. As important as S. 47 the Natural Resources Management Act was, the signing into law of the GAOA on August 4, 2020 was a true milestone event.

In addition to guaranteeing that LWCF will receive $900 million annually, the GAOA also sets aside $9.5 billion over the next five years for the maintenance and infrastructure needs at our country’s national parks and national forests including the White Mountain National Forest.

Take Action

Contact members of our Congressional delegation to thank each of them for their vote in support of the Great American Outdoors Act. Let them know their actions have strengthened the commitment made in 1965 to safeguard our country’s special natural areas and cultural heritage.

Forest Society position:

The Forest Society is part of the national LWCF Coalition. Together with our partners from across the country, we worked for the permanent reauthorization of the LWCF, and for the full annual funding at $900 million a year.

KEY LINKS:

A Vision for America’s Forests – speech by US Secretary of Agriculture, August 9, 2010

Take Action

Contact members of our Congressional delegation. Thank each for their continued support for LWCF. Let them know you also support S.1081/ H.R.3195 and ask them to work with Congressional leadership on scheduling a floor vote for this legislation in both houses of Congress as soon as possible.

News

Senate Permanently Reauthorizes the Land and Water Conservation Fund

Matt Leahy | February 14, 2019

In an overwhelmingly large bipartisan vote of 92-8, the United States Senate on February 12 approved S. 47, the Natural Resources Management Act. The bill includes a wide-ranging set of provisions that will expand protections for our country’s natural areas. Most importantly, it will permanently reauthorize the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF).

The Senate vote is the outcome of the national LWCF Coalition, of which the Forest Society is a member. The coalition has been putting pressure on Congress since the program’s authorization lapsed at the end of September. The bill now moves to the U.S. House of Representatives for action. We are hopeful this bipartisan spirit will continue. For more information, read the LWCF Coalition’s statement on the passage of S. 47.

New Hampshire’s U.S. Senators Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan both voted in favor of the bill. Please contact them and thank them for their continued leadership on this critically important issue. Read the Senate delegation’s statement on the passage of this landmark legislation here.

For further details of what is in the Natural Resources Management Act, read this article from E&E Daily.

A side thought to consider; most people likely view Congress as being dysfunctional or more focused on scoring political points than on solving challenges facing our country. It is therefore interesting to note that those stereotypical partisan battles did not happen during the deliberations on a bill whose main purpose is the protection of our country’s beautiful landscapes and critically important natural ecosystems. Is it possible that the long-term land protection of the land is the issue that brings all sides together?

LWCF Reauthorization

Matt Leahy | December 20, 2018

For a short time, optimistic media reports suggested Congress would finally reach an agreement to permanently reauthorize the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF). That didn’t happen. Instead, this impasse marks the second time in the last three years Congress has failed to secure the program’s long-term future. Unfortunately, 2019 will now begin in the same way 2018 ended-with the LWCF in limbo, as it has been since it expired on September 30, and again waiting for Congress to act.

While it is true the LWCF could live on without this authorization (if Congress continues to appropriate money each year for its subprograms and individual projects), relying on the vagaries of the appropriations process undermines the fundamental concept behind its creation. Specifically, it goes against the principle of asset-for-asset reinvestment in conservation, where the sale of one national natural resource (offshore energy) is offset by investing a small portion of royalties into a permanent capital investment in land and water for the American public.

Of further concern, the program’s expiration resulted in the termination of the annual funding deposits which are supposed to go into LWCF to sustain its conservation work. In plain dollars and cents, this means starting back on October 1, the revenue from offshore energy development on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) stopped flowing into the program at a loss of $2.46M every day.

We are hopeful that when Congress does convene in January for its next session, one of its top priorities will be to end the uncertainty regarding the future of the LWCF. Until we have that assurance, it will be helpful to make a simple call or email to New Hampshire’s Congressional delegation thanking them for their on-going support and encouraging them to remind their colleagues that the American public backs the program. This issue cannot wait any longer.

Here's how to contact the NH congressional delegation to say THANK YOU:

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Veterans Group Ramps Up Effort to Reauthorize the Land and Water Conservation Fund

Matt Leahy | November 8, 2018

Underscoring the urgency of reauthorizing the Land and Water Conservation Fund, the ad pictured below was placed by the Vet Voice Foundation (VVF) in the Boston Globe on October 4th. Vet Voice Foundation is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization that works to provide veterans the opportunity to continue serving their communities through new missions in domestic and foreign policy campaigns important to our country. The fact that the VVF has focused part of its efforts on the LWCF, further highlights why the program matters. The organization believes that recreating and protected lands can help veterans heal from the trauma of war and renew bonds with family members after long deployments.

Read more on the VVF’s position on the protection of these special places in this 4-page fact sheet (PDF).

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