By Rob Sisson, City Commissioner and Former Mayor, Sturgis, MI (and president of ConservAmerica)
The Land and Water Conservation Fund was established with broad support of Congress in 1965. Congress established annual funding at $900 million–though in recent years its funding has been a fraction of that amount. The source of LWCF funding is royalty income generated by offshore oil and gas production–not taxes. In theory, as we “use” up one resource, we “invest” in another.
Today, voices from across the political spectrum are calling for our current congress to honor its commitment and fully fund the program.
The popular perception may be that LWCF grants are used to buy more and more acres of land to create or add to parks. In reality, communities like Sturgis rely on the program to stretch local dollars to provide playgrounds, ball fields, and recreation programs to their citizens. LWCF programming is generally managed by individual states which match dollar for local dollar invested for the benefit of citizens. Cities like Sturgis simply would not be able to provide parks and recreation programming without the LWCF.
One tenet of the Republican Party is, “the best government is that closest to the people.” The Land and Water Conservation Fund complements that sentiment by sending funds to local government where citizens have greater say in budgets and services, and where accountability for money spent is highest.
In December, a group of Republican members of Congress sent a letter to their committee chair urging full funding of the Land and Water Conservation Fund. You can read the letter and see who signed it by clicking this link:
Signed House Republicans LWCF Letter
If you’d like to see what LWCF has done in your state, county, or city, visit the Department of Interior’s LWCF page: http://www.nps.gov/lwcf/
