Senate leaders push to permanently reauthorize Land and Water Conservation Fund

U.S. Sens. Richard Burr (R-NC), Susan Collins (R-ME), Steve Daines (R-MT) and Cory Gardner (R-CO) led the introduction of bipartisan legislation that would make the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) permanent and support conservation and recreation needs.

The bill would permanently authorize the LWCF, which strives to conserve parks, open spaces and wildlife habitat for outdoor recreation, hunting and fishing.

“The LWCF has a proven track record of making good on the promise of conserving our parks, open spaces and wildlife habitats for the benefit of future generations of Americans,” Burr said. “My colleagues and I offer this bill to permanently extend the LWCF, a program that preserves our natural heritage but does so without asking American taxpayers to shoulder the burden. I look forward to my colleagues coming together to pass this bipartisan legislation.”

The LWCF, Collins said, is the nation’s most important and successful conservation and recreation program.

“I have long supported this landmark program that has created opportunities for Americans to enjoy the outdoors in every state,” Collins said. “By permanently extending the LWCF, our legislation will help create a more stable, long-term plan that allows landowners, states, local communities and conservation partners to reasonably plan for the future.”

Daines previously led successful efforts to include an amendment to the fiscal year 2016 Interior, Environment and Related Agencies Appropriations Act that increased LWCF program funding by approximately $14 million.

Over its 50-year history, LWCF along with the Forest Legacy program, which helps conserve environmentally important forests, have contributed more than 40,000 state and local outdoor recreation projects and have protected more than 2.5 million acres of land, lawmakers said.

“LWCF is a critical tool that helps expand access to our public lands and preserves our Montana way of life,” Daines said. “By permanently reauthorizing LWCF we can remove uncertainty and protect access to public lands for future generations.”

Gardner called LWCF essential to protecting Colorado’s natural resources, and he has long supported permanent reauthorization.

“This bipartisan, common sense legislation is supported by countless Coloradans and Americans who want to protect our country’s public lands for future generations to enjoy,” Gardner said. “I’ll continue to work with my colleagues to see permanent reauthorization of LWCF signed into law.”

U.S. Sens. Michael Bennet (D-CO) and Martin Heinrich (D-NM) also cosponsored the legislation.