What do all the dots on the map below have in common?

Each one marks a park, trail, playground, or wild place protected, in whole or in part, by the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF)—America’s most effective tool for expanding outdoor access.

What’s the Land and Water Conservation Fund?

It’s a longstanding federal program that collects royalty fees from offshore oil and gas drilling to fund investments in parks and open spaces, national and local. It costs taxpayers nothing and benefits everyone. Chances are LWCF has helped protect a place you know and love. Ninety-eight percent of U.S. counties have a park or open space funded by LWCF. Despite its bipartisan establishment in Congress in 1964, the fund had to be reauthorized every two years. And over its first half century, dollars were consistently siphoned to pay for other, often unrelated, efforts. In fact, more than $22 billion were diverted from LWCF over the decades, shortchanging our public lands and disinvesting in the joys and benefits the outdoors deliver to all Americans.

So, in 2020, a broad coalition of public lands advocates, including Trust for Public Land, urged Congress to pass the Great American Outdoors Act, which permanently authorized LWCF and guaranteed it would be fully funded—to the tune of $900 million every year.

Why Does It Matter?

Parks and open space are essential to building healthy, equitable, and climate-resilient communities. But today, one in three people in America don’t have a park close to home. And the wild places we turn to for exploration, connection, and restoration are increasingly under threat—from unchecked development to wildfires and climate change.

Dollars from LWCF—which come in the form of direct funds and matching grants—are critical lifelines for rural economies and gateway communities. Public lands support more than 5 million jobs, and the $1.2 trillion outdoor recreation economy outpaces even mining, agriculture, and oil and gas.

The bottom line: LWCF is essential to protecting land, expanding access to nature, and creating parks for all people.

See the Impact

Trust for Public Land has helped communities across the U.S. access LWCF funding to protect the places that matter most—from local ballfields and neighborhood parks to iconic national forests and wildlife refuges. Here are some of the places where it has made a difference.

Zion Narrows Trail, Utah: The upper reaches of this classic wilderness hike into Zion National Park used to cross unprotected land. Using dollars from the Land and Water Conservation Fund, we preserved the final private properties outside the park boundary, guaranteeing public access to this special place forever.

Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historical Park, Georgia: The Land and Water Conservation Fund has helped us protect dozens of historic homes and businesses in Atlanta for the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site. Today, millions of people visit the childhood home of the civil rights icon each year.

Ala Kahakahi National Historic Trail, Hawaii: On the Big Island of Hawaii, we worked with the National Park Service to restore an ancient footpath that once circled the island. The Land and Water Conservation Fund has helped establish and grow the Ala Kahakai National Historic Trail, so locals and visitors can discover the island’s rich past, one step at a time.