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State Park Funding
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House Vote on LWCF



A bill for full funding of the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) has suddenly begun moving in Congress (partly as a result of stopping work on the climate change bill and shifting to other energy bills) and it is moving very fast, with a critical House vote coming as early as THIS AFTERNOON. This is the best chance for funding for state parks, and local parks as well (perhaps as much as $8 million for Missouri annually), but only if the bill is amended to mandate funding for states equal to that for the federal government. This was the original intent of the LWCF and we must return to it, especially now that there is a chance for full funding.

PLEASE call your representative in Congress (and then other members of the Missouri delegation) and ask them to ask Chairman Rahall (D-WVa, sponsor of a measure that is likely to be voted today) to include in his Manager's Amendment a provision that specifies a minimum of 40 percent of LWCF funding for the State Assistance Program.

Then call senators Bond and McCaskill, asking them to support full funding of LWCF and to ask Senator Bingaman (D-NM) to include a provision for a minimum of 40 percent to the State Assistance Program in his Manager's Amendment.

Full funding for LWCF has some momentum in both House and Senate, and could be attached to a number of different bills, especially energy legislation being considered right now in both houses, but the guarantee of a minimum of 40 percent to the State Assistance Program has less momentum. That is why it is so important to talk with our Missouri delegation to explain how critically important this 40 percent guarantee is to Missouri parks.

The LWCF was established in the 1960s, using proceeds from off-shore oil and gas royalties. It was vitally important for capital improvements in state and local parks in Missouri and nationwide in the 1960s and '70s, until appropriations were zeroed out by the Reagan administration in 1981; they were later resumed at an insignificant level, even though more than $18 billion has built up in the fund today. Return to full funding (mandatory appropriation of about $1 billion/year for the stated purposes) has been a dream of conservationists for decades and it could become a reality, but there will be push-back from those opposed to mandatory spending as well as from those who want to use the money for other purposes.

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