October 28, 2019

United States House of Representatives

Washington, DC 20515

United States Senate

Washington, DC 20510

Dear Member of Congress,

On behalf of our millions of members and supporters in the Conservation Voter Movement, we write to express our strong support for our nation’s best parks and lands program: the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF). The permanent reauthorization of LWCF earlier this year was a clear victory for our national, state and local parks, and public lands, as the program will now be around for the long haul. But permanent reauthorization is only half the battle because it does not guarantee funding for LWCF. As Congress debates government funding this fall, we urge you to seize the momentum from the reauthorization victory to enact legislation providing full, permanent, and dedicated funding for LWCF as part of the broader appropriations package.

LWCF began as a simple idea: so long as this country allows offshore drilling, some of the royalties should offset the damage from that activity and go toward preserving our lands and waterways. Since its creation in 1965, LWCF has provided funding to create state and local parks; improve access to public lands; conserve farms and forests; protect national parks, wildlife refuges, trails, and other public lands. From iconic landscapes such as the Grand Canyon to places such as the Martin Luther King National Historical Park to neighborhood ball fields across the country, communities in almost every county nationwide have been able to access public spaces thanks to projects supported by LWCF – all without using taxpayer funds. What’s more, LWCF helps to address a legacy of injustice that has resulted in certain communities, oftentimes low-income communities and communities of color, lacking access to nearby green spaces.

Although lawmakers have recognized the vitality of LWCF for communities nationwide, full, permanent, and dedicated funding is necessary to fulfill the intent of the program. LWCF has long been authorized to receive $900 million annually but much of LWCF’s intended funds have been diverted to programs other than conservation nearly every single year. In FY2018, LWCF was funded at $425M – less than half of LWCF’s full intended funding – and in the program’s 50+ years of existence, $22B have been diverted.

The need to guarantee LWCF’s funding has never been more urgent. The persistent loss of our nation’s natural areas due to human activity is accelerating at an alarming rate: from 2001 to 2017, roughly a football field worth of natural area disappeared every 30 seconds^[1]. The recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) lands and climate report highlighted the need to protect lands as they are being affected by climate change and harness the power of public lands to absorb emissions and provide added resiliency to our communities. And, according to a recent UN report, habitat destruction and climate change are two of the top reasons that over a million species worldwide are at risk of extinction in the next decades.

Furthermore, LWCF’s funding is frequently targeted to quietly undercut this popular bipartisan program. Earlier this year, the Trump administration proposed a negative funding amount in its FY20 budget proposal. While Congress is poised to reject this most recent effort to gut the program, LWCF funding remains vulnerable to future attacks. In light of the rapid loss of our natural areas and species, the need to take action on the climate crisis, and the consistent Trump Administration attacks, it is imperative to deepen our commitment to our most popular and effective public lands program.

For generations, people across the country have enjoyed, benefitted from, and worked to protect our nation’s lands and waters. As we approach the end of the fiscal year, we urge Congress to commit to protect and enhance these incredible places by fully funding LWCF at $900M each and every year.

Thank you for considering our views.

Sincerely,

League of Conservation Voters

Conservation Alabama

Alaska Center

Chispa Arizona

California League of Conservation Voters

Conservation Colorado

Connecticut League of Conservation Voters

Florida Conservation Voters

Georgia Conservation Voters

Conservation Voters for Idaho

Illinois Environmental Council

Maine Conservation Voters

Maryland League of Conservation Voters

Environmental League of MA

Michigan League of Conservation Voters

Conservation Minnesota

Montana Conservation Voters

Nebraska Conservation Voters

Nevada Conservation League

New Jersey League of Conservation Voters

Conservation Voters New Mexico

New York League of Conservation Voters

North Carolina League of Conservation Voters

Ohio Environmental Council Action Fund

Oregon League of Conservation Voters

Conservation Voters of Pennsylvania

Conservation Voters of South Carolina

Vermont Conservation Voters

Virginia League of Conservation Voters

Washington Conservation Voters

Wisconsin Conservation Voters

^[1] David M. Theobald and others, “Loss and fragmentation of natural lands in the coterminous U.S. from 2001 to 2017” (Truckee, CA: Conservation Science Partners, 2019), available at https://www.csp-inc.org/public/CSP%20Disappearing%20US%20Exec%20Summary%20011819.pdf.