The Nature Conservancy, Partners Issue Report On Recreation, Wildlife Habitat Funding

The Nature Conservancy and 51 national, regional and state land conservation and outdoor recreation groups this week released a report which documents the decline of two major federal land conservation programs and the need to restore federal funding to protect America’s public lands.

 

The report, Conserving America’s Landscapes, urges Congress and the Obama Administration to fully fund the Land and Water Conservation Fund, the premier federal program for buying open space and creating parks, forests, wildlife habitat, and recreation areas across the country.

 

Since its creation in 1965, LWCF funding has been used to safeguard some of America’s most iconic places; including Redwood National Park, Valley Forge National Historical Park, the Appalachian Trail National Scenic Trail, and the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site.

 

Here in Pennsylvania, restoring funding to the LWCF could provide money to federal agencies involved in the development of the Cherry Valley National Wildlife Refuge. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service approved creation of the new refuge in the Poconos.

 

The recently released Obama Administration budget proposal includes an increase for the LWCF and commits to the goal of reaching full funding of $900 million over the next five years.

 

"The nation needs a secure, reliable source for land protection funding,” said Bill Kunze, the Pennsylvania State director for The Nature Conservancy. “With the recent creation of the Cherry Valley National Wildlife Refuge in Northeast Pennsylvania, we have even more reason to provide states and federal agencies with dependable funding to ensure our heritage of natural wonders.”

 

The LWCF program also includes an important state grants component that supports parks at the state and local level. These grants go toward the development of park facilities and recreational amenities – creating quality jobs and supporting the quality-of-life factors that can make the difference for communities seeking to attract employers and a strong work force. Dramatic funding declines have resulted in the deterioration of state and local parks and recreational facilities. Forty-four states report at least 95 percent of the funding need for outdoor recreation facilities and parkland is presently unmet.

 

Funding is also needed for the Forest Legacy Program, administered by the U.S. Forest Service, to help private landowners maintain working forests to provide multiple benefits to adjacent communities including watershed protection, economic sustainability, wildlife habitat, and public recreation.

 

Funding for the FLP – which has enabled landowners and communities to retain ownership of forested land – has been inadequate to address the needs of the country’s demand for funding.

The report highlights the importance of these two programs to conserve wildlife habitat, provide public recreational access, prevent the spread of wildfires, support local economies and help species adapt to climate change.

 

The LWCF program has been fully funded by Congress at the authorized level of $900 million only once since its inception forty-four years ago, with a funding level of only $156 million nationwide last year.

 

Dramatic declines in program funding over the past seven years have had serious negative consequences for our national parks, forests, refuges and other federal lands. Primarily funded from federal offshore oil revenues received by the federal government, more than $17 billion of this authorized funding has been diverted away from land conservation for other uses.

 

In the report, the Land and Water Conservation Fund Coalition recommends full and dedicated funding of $900 million annually for the LWCF federal and state grants programs and an annual allocation of $125 million the Forest Legacy Program.

 

A copy of the report is available online.