Statement from Trust for Public Land President and CEO Dr. Carrie Besnette Hauser U.S. House Interior Appropriations Funding Proposal for FY26 Regarding the LWCF Program and Proposed Funding to Land Management Agencies
Denver, CO – Upon news of the vote by the U.S. House Appropriations Committee’s Interior funding bill for fiscal year 2026, Trust for Public Land President and CEO Dr. Carrie Besnette Hauser issued the following statement:
“We thank Chairman Mike Simpson (R-Idaho) and Representative Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) for their leadership in preserving funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF), including funding through the Outdoor Recreation Legacy Partnership, and for continuing to champion one of the most effective conservation tools in American history. For more than six decades, LWCF has been a smart investment helping communities in every state protect iconic landscapes, and improve access to the outdoors for hunting, fishing and hiking —all without costing taxpayers a dime.
By standing up for LWCF, this funding proposal rightly rejects the false choice between land acquisition and deferred maintenance. The bipartisan Great American Outdoors Act, signed into law just five years ago by President Trump, demonstrated that we can and must invest in both.
The agencies managing our national parks, forests, and other public lands face unprecedented pressures and funding challenges in protecting and providing access to parks, trails, refuges, forests, and wilderness areas. LWCF is critical to their efforts, we need to do more, not less, to protect these resources and ensure they remain accessible for all Americans. Beyond LWCF, we look forward to working with House and Senate leaders to improve upon funding levels in FY26 for other federal programs vital to effective conservation and stewardship of our public lands.
As the Senate takes up this funding bill, we are hopeful that Senators Murkowski and Merkley will work to champion LWCF, and maintain critical investments that strengthen conservation, support local economies and jobs, and safeguard the outdoor spaces both urban and rural communities depend on.”
Today, 1 in 3 people in America—more than 100 million people and 28 million children—still lack access to a park within a 10-minute walk of their home. LWCF is a 60-year-strong federal program that reinvests fees from offshore oil and gas drilling into parks, trails, and public lands—at no cost to taxpayers
TPL helps communities leverage LWCF resources to close the park access gap and invest in places that matter—from upgraded ballfields, local parks and neighborhood green spaces to national parks, forests, and wildlife refuges. Since its inception delivered nearly $20 billion in investments and funded projects in 98 percent of U.S. counties.
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About Trust for Public Land
Trust for Public Land is a national nonprofit that works to connect everyone to the benefits and joys of the outdoors. As a leader in equitable access to the outdoors, TPL works with communities to create parks and protect public land where they are needed most. Since 1972, TPL has protected more than 4 million acres of public land, created more than 5,504 parks, trails, schoolyards, and iconic outdoor places, and raised $110 billion in public funding for parks and public lands, and connected nearly 9.7 million people to the outdoors. In Tennessee, TPL has protected over 21,000 acres while connecting nearly 30,000 people to a park within a 10-minute walk. To learn more, visit tpl.org.
