The Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) is one of our nation's most successful conservation tools. Created in 1965, LWCF uses royalties from offshore oil and gas to invest in protecting public lands and waters, with an emphasis on recreation. LWCF has supported 42,000+ projects to develop parks and outdoor recreation projects in all 50 states. It has been used to purchase or improve more than a dozen climbing areas including:
- Wilson Peak & Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, CO
- Seneca Rocks, WV
- Bozeman Pass, MT
- Castle Crags, CA
- Palisades Park, AL
- Chimney Rock State Park & Crowders Mountain State Park, NC
- Cumberland Trail State Park, TN
- Custer State Park, SD
- New River Gorge, WV
- Rumney, NH (pending)
- Alphabet Rock, WA (pending)
However, without timely action from Congress, this popular, bipartisan program will expire September 30th, 2018. If LWCF is not reauthorized, urban areas, small local communities, states, and national parks could potentially lose many millions of dollars – including those with premier climbing areas.
Please join us in asking members of Congress to support either a stand-alone bill, or an amendment to the FY 2019 Interior appropriations bill, that permanently reauthorizes the Land and Water Conservation Fund before it expires on September 30, 2018.
Photo credit: Shelby Miller