Washington, D.C.– In response to the Department of Interior issuing a secretarial order undermining the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) and threatening access to public lands, the League of Conservation Voters released the following statement from Conservation Program Director, America Fitzpatrick: 

“This order is part of an unpopular string of actions by the Trump administration to attack our public lands, harming the economies of rural communities and hindering the work that sportsmen, ranchers, outdoor recreation enthusiasts, Tribes, and local communities have been doing to protect treasured places. 

“The Land and Water Conservation Fund has enjoyed strong bipartisan support since its creation in the 1960s because people of all walks of life support improving existing public lands and want to create more opportunities for outdoor access in communities across the country. Contrary to the claims that these changes will increase access to the outdoors, this order imposes new hurdles and oversight for local and state agencies to implement projects, limits partnerships intended to further local access and outdoor recreation, and applies additional restrictions on LWCF land protection projects. This means access to tens of thousands of acres of land due to be protected will be lost. This secretarial order opens up the possibility for future sell-off of public lands by allowing states to use state-side funding to buy federal lands. With this order, the administration is once again moving forward with a policy that threatens our public lands by damaging a program that has garnered widespread support in its success increasing outdoor recreation across the country for decades.” 

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