The Land and Water Conservation Fund has been called "America's best conservation program," helping to create trailheads, parks, and outdoor recreation access for more than 50 years. It is a popular, bipartisan program that uses royalties from offshore oil and gas drilling and reinvests them in conservation projects. It expired September 30, 2018.

How can you help make a difference? Contact your Congress critters with the tool below. The more personalized the message, the better.

1. Ask your representatives to protect funding for some America's great outdoors by renewing the Land and Water Conservation Fund. 

2. Let them know too why this is important to you — what you enjoy doing outside, the places you like to go, etc. They need to know that real people enjoy the places the Land and Water Conservation Fund helps maintain and protect.

Photo credit: Hunter Day, Smith River Montana