I am writing to urge you to provide permanent and full dedicated funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund.

The Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) has been our nation’s most successful conservation and recreation program for 52 years, and in less than a year this program will expire unless reauthorized by you and your colleagues in Congress. LWCF has invested funds in every state and nearly every county of the U.S. including New York State. New York has received $326.6 million in LWCF funding over the past five decades, protecting places such as Allegany State Park, Sterling Forest, and Wertheim National Wildlife Refuge. LWCF state assistance grants have further supported hundreds of projects across New York’s state and local parks from the Coney Island Boardwalk in Brooklyn to the Confluence Park and Chenango River Promenade in Binghamton.

Forest Legacy Program (FLP) grants are also funded under LWCF, to help protect working forests. The FLP cost-share funding supports timber sector jobs and sustainable forest operations while enhancing wildlife habitat, water quality and recreation. For example, the FLP contributed to places such as the Adirondack Lakes in Hamilton County and Ticeteneyck Mountain in Ulster County. The FLP assists states and private forest owners to maintain working forest lands through matching grants for permanent conservation easement and fee acquisitions, and has leveraged approximately $12 million in federal funds to invest $34 million in New York’s forests, while protecting air and water quality, wildlife habitat, access for recreation and other public benefits provided by forests.

Active outdoor recreation is an important part of the New York economy. The Outdoor Industry Association has found that active outdoor recreation contributes $41.8 billion annually in consumer spending to New York’s economy, supports 313,000 jobs which generate $14 billion in wages and salaries and produces $3.6 billion annually in state and local tax revenue.

Additionally, U.S. Census Bureau reports that each year over 4.6 million people participate in hunting, fishing, and wildlife watching in New York, contributing over $4.5 billion to the state economy.

The LWCF creates opportunities for Americans to play outside at their local playgrounds and ballfields, visit iconic landscapes at our national parks, national forests and wildlife refuges, and experience America at historic and cultural sites. Eliminating LWCF would break the long-standing promise to the American people to invest a small portion of revenues from offshore energy development in lasting natural infrastructure: our land, outdoor recreation economy, access to hunting and angling opportunities, water resources, and the history and culture of our great nation.

The Land and Water Conservation Fund is a vital program to millions of Americans across the country. Your local communities, businesses, and constituents need the certainty that it will remain as a robust and flexible set of conservation tools for future generations. We appreciate your doing all you can to sustain this important commitment to our land and water, our wildlife, our history and our way of life.

Sincerely,