Statements on the Great American Outdoor Act signed into law today, August 4, 2020
Article and Post from the Wilderness Society 8-04-20
Official Press Release… “Great American Outdoors Act” signed into law, permanently guaranteeing full LWCF funding
WASHINGTON, August 4, 2020 — With today’s signing of the “Great American Outdoors Act” into law, the Land and Water Conservation Fund is now permanently and fully funded at $900 million a year, something that many legislators, community leaders and conservation groups have been fighting for since the program’s creation in 1964. The “Great American Outdoors Act” also provides funding for a backlog of maintenance needs for national parks and other public lands.
Statement from Jamie Williams, President of The Wilderness Society.
“With today’s signing of the ‘Great American Outdoors Act’ into law, Congress has finally fulfilled the 55-year-old promise of the Land and Water Conservation Fund – the nation’s most effective program for strengthening communities through conservation and improved access to outdoor recreation. This incredible victory comes after years of bipartisan support and tireless leadership from long-term and recent champions in both the House and Senate, and reminds us that conservation of our shared outdoor spaces is something we can all come together on.
“Never has the moment been more urgent for Congress to finally enable LWCF to serve its full potential. It can and should be a go-to tool for addressing some of our most pressing environmental challenges – from supporting the recovery and growth of our outdoor recreation and tourism economies, to achieving equitable access to parks and the benefits of nature, to making public lands part of the solution to the climate and extinction crises. Now, with full and permanent funding, we have an unprecedented opportunity and obligation to use the Land and Water Conservation Fund to make meaningful progress toward these vital goals while protecting our most treasured places.”
Momentum for the “Great American Outdoors Act” came in part from the role it can play in promoting economic growth and recovery by putting people to work on park infrastructure projects and investing in gateway communities as well as recreation, travel and tourism businesses particularly hard-hit by the current economic crisis.
COVID-19 has spotlighted how critical national, state and local parks, trails and public lands are to the economies of communities across the country, as well as the stark inequities in who has quality access to these parks and healing outdoor spaces. With a fully funded Land and Water Conservation Fund, states and cities now have more resources to create more and safer outdoor spaces for people in every community – but especially communities that lack access to quality parks and opportunities to experience the benefits of time spent with nature.
Support from both long-term conservation champions and first-term Congress Members for full, permanent funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund indicates a widespread appreciation for programs that invest in national and local lands, waters and communities that depend on them. Recent polling also shows the Westerners strongly support pro-public lands proposals, including 74 percent who supported fully funding the Land and Water Conservation Fund.
The overwhelming bipartisan support for and passage of the “Great American Outdoors Act” suggests that investment in parks, public lands and outdoor recreation infrastructure has an ongoing role to play in economic stimulus and efforts to create healthy communities.
A Blog Post from the Wilderness Society..
LWCF guarantees access to public lands without burdening taxpayers
The Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) has secured full and permanent funding through the Great American Outdoors Act, finally positioning the program to live up to its potential as a tool to guarantee access to public lands, protect habitat and strengthen communities through conservation and outdoor recreation.
Now signed into law, the bill represents the first step toward something greater, but also the culmination of a long and winding journey. Since 1964, when Congress passed LWCF and President Lyndon Johnson signed it, the program has been used to preserve millions of acres of irreplaceable land from coast to coast. Many of our communities have been shaped by this law in ways we probably don’t even recognize, whether by the maintenance of a running trail, preservation of a historic battlefield or creation of a local park or swimming pool. Now a mainstay of our parks, this program was born of an elegant idea: when we deplete shared natural resources, it’s only right to re-invest the proceeds back into the public lands and waters we love.
The history of the LWCF
In the late 1950s, national parks were incredibly popular. In fact, the huge crowds made park maintenance increasingly difficult, and in some cases even cut into the peacefulness and serenity that made these places so special. Recognizing the increasing need for outdoor recreation opportunities, Congress convened the Outdoor Recreation Resources Review Commission (ORRRC) to consider what America’s outdoor recreation needs would be both 20 years and 50 years hence. The findings of that commission, released in 1961, have been credited with paving the way for a number of conservation laws, but many consider the LWCF to be the most significant policy initiative to emerge from that process.
Among other things, the ORRRC concluded that the federal government and individual states should act to preserve and develop outdoor recreation resources for all people, including “acquir[ing] additional [public land] areas where necessary.” It suggested a new program be established to fund those additions. After the report was published, legislation was introduced to launch such a program, and, during his final year in office, President John F. Kennedy emphasized its importance. Bipartisan support developed around the idea, and the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act passed both the House and Senate in 1964. Kennedy’s successor, President Lyndon Johnson, signed it into law at the same ceremony as the Wilderness Act, making September 3, 1964 one of the most important dates in land conservation history.
How the LWCF works
In 1964, national park acreage had barely grown since World War II, and LWCF thus represented a critical step forward: a long-term investment in public lands conservation. The bill authorized expenditure of $900 million each year for acquiring park inholdings (parcels of private land within the borders of parks, offered by willing sellers). By acquiring these pieces of land, the federal government could manage entire landscapes, making it easier to protect wildlife habitat, connect trails and provide access to a variety of outdoor recreation activities.
The money to do this was to be taken from the sale of surplus federal property, park entrance and permit fees and a motorboat fuel tax. In 1968, revenue from offshore oil leases was added to the list (the vast majority of LWCF monies now come from the latter source). Congress crafted this “asset-for-asset” reinvestment concept so that there would be a steady stream of funds available to add on to our parks and protected areas. Even Interior Secretary James G. Watt, later heavily criticized for presiding over a Reagan administration that exploited public lands and weakened conservation measures, praised the LWCF as “one of the most effective preservation and conservation programs in America” in his 1981 introductory address before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.
In addition to federal land protection, the LWCF is used to provide matching grants to states and communities so they can protect and create local parks and provide various other outdoor recreation opportunities. In this capacity, the program has supported tens of thousands of close-to-home conservation projects that enrich the lives of communities in all 50 states and nearly every single county.
In the years since it became law, the LWCF has been used to protect land that completes or protects sites as varied as national forests and historic battlefields, all without receiving taxpayer money. Though its name may be unfamiliar, you have almost certainly enjoyed some of the places it has supported, from American icons like Gettysburg National Military Park, the Grand Canyon and Everglades National Park, to local trails and sports fields just around the corner.
A commitment long ignored—but hope for the future
As the conservation focus of the 1960s faded, LWCF remained a popular and effective program—and it was needed more than ever. Despite this, the Reagan administration suspended further park purchases in 1981, ushering in a long period when little money was put into the LWCF, despite its promise of a $900 million-a-year investment. Interior Secretary Watts effectively recanted his past pro-LWCF statement, saying that his department’s focus should be capital improvements and repairs in existing parks, rather than protecting new land. Many critics saw this as a way to freeze land conservation in its tracks. In the following years, conditions improved somewhat—the Clinton administration became the first ever to include the entire $900 million in a proposed federal budget—but full LWCF funding repeatedly failed to break through in Congress, despite significant support on both sides of the aisle.
That has been the through-line of the last 20 years: though LWCF was used to protect iconic landscapes in all 50 states, and for over 42,000 state and local projects touching every county in the U.S., preventing its funds from being siphoned away became a perennial struggle. Some $22 billion has reportedly been diverted from the LWCF trust fund by Congress over the program’s lifetime, leaving many development projects unfinished and parcels of land unprotected. Funding levels have approached the amount authorized in the original legislation only twice, even as new pressures lead wildlands and shared spaces to become developed, fragmented or otherwise damaged.
In 2015, amid pressure from special interests and a few fringe lawmakers, Congress allowed LWCF’s initial 50-year authorization to lapse for several months before they could strike a deal for temporary renewal. Congress finally permanently reauthorized LWCF in 2019, but the yearly fight to route the program’s money to parks and public lands continued.
Link to video testimonials on the values and importance of LWCF to parks and local communities go to…
https://www.wilderness.org/articles/media-resources/media-resources-land-and-water-conservation-fund
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OFFICIAL STATEMENT FROM THE WHITE HOUSE..
From the beginning of this Administration, President Trump has prioritized conservation and stewardship of our public lands and national parks. Today, President Trump signed into law the Great American Outdoors Act. This historic legislation, along with the John D. Dingell, Jr. Conservation, Management, and Recreation Act—which President Trump signed into law in March 2019—will benefit current and future generations of Americans.
Each year, millions of people from all over the world visit and enjoy our national parks. Yet today, more than 5,500 miles of paved roads, 17,000 miles of trails, and 24,000 buildings in our national parks are in need of maintenance improvements.
Fulfilling President Trump’s promise to restore, conserve, and protect America’s lands, the Great American Outdoors Act provides the necessary funds, dedicating up to $1.9 billion per year for five years to fund deferred maintenance projects identified by the National Park Service, the U.S. Forest Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Bureau of Land Management, and the Bureau of Indian Education. These infrastructure updates will preserve our most important national treasures and give more American families opportunities to explore the great outdoors.
When I was growing up, my family took road trips each summer, crossing through nearly every state and stopping at many national parks along the way, from Yosemite, Glacier, and Yellowstone in the west, to the Badlands and Theodore Roosevelt National Park in the Dakotas, to the Great Smoky Mountains and Shenandoah National Park in the east. When we explore the outdoors and see our magnificent mountain ranges, coastlines, deserts, forests and great open spaces, we develop a deeper appreciation for the beauty and importance of our natural environment.
In addition to improving infrastructure at our national parks, the Great American Outdoors Act also provides permanent funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF). The LWCF supports recreational access, protection, and preservation of our Nation’s most valuable natural and cultural resources. Supporting over 98 percent of counties across the country, the LWCF grants enable State and local governments to develop and improve parks in their communities, as well as permanently conserve outdoor recreation areas for public use and enjoyment.
This legislation signed today is not just about outdoor recreation. In signing the Great American Outdoors Act, President Trump is protecting and enhancing the economies of numerous gateway communities that surround our national parks and wildlife reserves. By bringing more visitors to our parks, the Great American Outdoors Act will stimulate local businesses across the country. Again, President Trump is proving that a strong economy and a healthy environment go hand-in-hand.
Now more than ever, Americans are seeking to get outside and experience our national parks and national wildlife refuge systems. The Great American Outdoors Act will ensure that these national treasures can be explored for generations to come. As Chairman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, I will continue to support the President as he works to restore, preserve, and protect American’s lands, air, and water.
