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LWCF Funding Report

Congress created the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) in 1965 to meet the nation's growing desire to preserve natural areas, culturally and historically significant landmarks, and outdoor recreational opportunities. LWCF funding has been low and unpredictable over the program's forty-four year history, approaching the full funding level of $900 million only twice. In the past ten years, program funding has followed a dramatic decline while demand for these funds to protect our nation's most treasured natural, cultural, and recreation areas has skyrocketed.

Each year, more and more of America's irreplaceable wildlands, fish and wildlife habitats, scenic areas, historic sites, and neighborhood parks are developed, fragmented, and otherwise sacrificed because there is simply not enough LWCF money to go around. The Land and Water Conservation Fund Coalition is a group of nonprofit organizations working together to support ample funding for the LWCF, the Forest Legacy Program and natural resource adaptation funding. The coalition produced this report that makes several recommondations to preserve and strengthen this funding source.

Watch a slide show of lands TPL helped conserve with Federal Land and Water Conservation funding

Listen to audio clip of Alan Front, TPL's Senior Vice President for Federal Affairs and Public Policy, discussing land conservation and climate change. (1:45)

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FILE ATTACHMENTS:

Land&Water Conservation Fund Report (3MB)