 Making a Case for LWCF Funding
Funded by offshore oil and gas leases, the fund's concept is to use revenue from one natural resource to pay for the protection of another. The fund is the principle source of revenue to acquire land for National Parks and Forests, Wilderness and National Recreation Areas, and buffers along Wild & Scenic rivers. For the past 19 years, however, paddlers and other outdoor users have lost funding needed to keep pace with growing demand for outdoor recreation. Since 1979 LWCF has been funded well below its annual authorization of $900 million, its moneys diverted for other programs. In 1996 LWCF hit an all time low, receiving less than 15 percent of its authorized amount. Because of two high-profile acquisitions in 1997--Headwaters Forest in California and the New World Mine in Montana--LWCF was fully funded in 1998, but many legislators viewed this as a one-time political necessity. "We are supposed to be getting a certain amount of money and we haven't been getting it," maintains Dave Jenkins, director of conservation and public policy for the American Canoe Association. Last spring, any hope that LWCF was out of the woods was dashed when the House Republican's '99 budget, spearheaded by Representative John Kasich, proposed to zero out all funding for federal land acquisition. The proposal also stated that all future land acquisitions would be accomplished through land swaps, not purchases (in other words, no net increases in public land would be allowed). Making matters worse, Ralph Regula (R-OH), chairman of the Interior Subcommittee which oversees natural resource spending, has not supported LWCF funding at the authorized level. Dire Consequences Outdoor user groups, environmental groups and resource managers are predicting dire consequences if this trend does not change. Resource managers and environmental groups envision having to go to greater extremes to protect the environment from the impacts of overcrowding. There is concern by user groups about a future where many existing National Parks, Wilderness Areas and rivers will be so overcrowded they will have to be managed like DisneyLand, with other areas becoming so overly protected that few people will have opportunity to enjoy them. "While various recreation interests, environmental groups and resource managers are at each other's throats--fighting over the few scraps Congress has thrown to us--development will continue to eat away at the remaining undeveloped land," maintains Jenkins. "We will have failed to protect the critical open space we need." Jenkins acknowledges that such a scenario may seem like a stretch, but maintains that anyone involved in outdoor recreation can see the problems already. "Overcrowding is here today, as is increasing tension between user groups and growing conflict between recreation and environmental protection," he says. Turning Things Around Obtaining funding for LWCF is an issue overlooked by many, but there is hope. Groups like the ACA, Outdoor Recreation Coalition of America (ORCA) and American Hiking Society (AHS) banded together in 1997 to form Americans for Our Heritage and Recreation (AHR), an organization dedicated to securing LWCF funding. "We're fully committed to the revitalization of LWCF in 1999 and are contributing significant resources to that end," maintains Dave Secunda, executive director of ORCA. In addition to AHR's efforts, new legislative proposals also hold promise. House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt recently introduced a bill that seeks to ensure LWCF is fully funded at $900 million per year. Senator Mary Landrieu (D-LA) also introduced a bill that would take 50 percent of offshore oil and gas lease revenue (over $5 billion in 1998) off budget so it is less vulnerable to the whims of appropriations. Under the bill, 23 percent of that money would be used to fund conservation programs including LWCF. This plan has also been introduced in the House of Representatives and appears to have bipartisan support. For now, however, funding for LWCF must still come through the normal budget process. The key to success is for outdoor enthusiasts to make their voices heard by contacting members of Congress and submitting editorials to local newspapers. "Special interests are making their funding needs a priority in Congress," says Jenkins. "In an era of lean budgets, this success has often come at the expense of outdoor recreation. The fact that these interests can succeed while outdoor interests cannot is because many outdoor enthusiasts are not fighting for this funding. "Outdoor recreation is more popular than ever," he adds. "Every city and county in the nation cares about tourism and recreation dollars, yet we continue to lose our funding. If things are to change, there must be a political price to pay for officials who ignore land acquisition needs." --For more information, contact the ACA conservation and public policy department at (703) 451-0141; or the AHR at (202) 429-2663. --Scott Bell
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