According to the Washington Post, the Department of Interior (DOI) is preparing a secretarial order that would divert important conservation dollars from the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF). If it goes through, the order would siphon away money that’s set aside for acquiring new public lands and providing the public with easy access to outdoor recreation.
LWCF funds are not taxpayer generated but instead come from offshore oil and gas drilling royalties. The fund was established by Congress in 1964, the DOI states on its website, "to fulfill a bipartisan commitment to safeguard natural areas, water resources and cultural heritage, and to provide recreation opportunities to all Americans.” It was permanently reauthorized and re-funded to the tune of $900 million a year in 2020 with the passage of the Great American Outdoors Act, which was widely celebrated during President Trump’s first term.
Since 1964, the LWCF has funded more than 46,000 projects impacting every county in the country. LWCF-funded projects range widely, from baseball fields and boat launches to the purchase of large parcels of land that can be transferred into the public domain. Just last year, the National Park Service used LWCF funds to acquire a 640-acres within Grand Teton National Park that was in danger of being developed for a resort or luxury homes. That section of land—now a part of Grand Teton National Park—is known as the Kelley Parcel. Its undisturbed habitat serves as an important migration corridor for antelope, deer, and elk.
In Colorado, there are a number of public land acquisition projects that could fall to the wayside if the Trump Administration's DOI manages to divert funds from the LWCF. One of those is the 650-acre Snowmass Falls Ranch outside of Aspen. Ownership of that land is set to be transferred to the White River National Forest using LWCF funds. But advocates worry that the deal will fall through if the Interior is successful in diverting money from the LWCF.
According to the Washington Posts’ reporting, DOI’s secretarial order will likely target a portion of the LWCF that's set aside specifically for purchasing new public lands. A line in the agency's recently released budget offers more insight. “Instead of adding more land and infrastructure to the Federal Government’s already bloated real property portfolio,” it reads, “the Budget proposes to repurpose $276.1 million for a new deferred maintenance program within LWCF.”
Critics of the plan point out that the 1964 law that created the Land and Water Conservation Fund didn't intend for the money to be used for maintenance. And, in fact, there’s already a separate fund that provides $1.9 billion every year for backlogged maintenance projects on federal lands.
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“The reauthorization of LWCF funds through the Great American Outdoors Act was a highlight moment in 2020,” Fresh Tracks host and prominent public-land advocate Randy Newberg told Field & Stream in a recent interview. “That was an act of Congress that fully funded and permanently extended the Land and Water Conservation Fund. And now they want to redirect a bunch of that money away from the conservation projects it was intended for. To me, it’s an expression of how little regard some people have for our public lands.”
