The National Park Service turns 99 this week, and in honor of its birthday, we all get a present: free admission to any national park of our choosing, from the Grand Canyon, to Yosemite, to Shenandoah. But our parks deserve a present, too, and the best birthday gift Congress could give is renewing and fully funding the Land and Water Conservation Fund before it's too late.
Grand Canyon National Park, Credit: Shutterstock, Anton Foltin
For 50 years, the Land and Water Conservation Fund has spurred the creation and expansion of some of our most treasured national parks, wildlife refuges, and other public lands. Millions of visitors hike, camp, and take in breathtaking views at Maine's Acadia National Park and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park thanks to the program. The Land and Water Conservation Fund helped create the nation's first wildlife refuge, the Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge in Florida.
Left: Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Credit: Shutterstock, Dave Allen
Right: Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge, Credit: Shutterstock, RIRF stock
In all, this premier land conservation program has protected more than 7 million acres of natural areas in every state in the country and created over 40,000 parks, preserves, and refuges.
The conservation fund fosters what author Wallace Stegner called "America's best idea," that precious natural areas should be setaside for all of the public and for future generations to enjoy. They should not be sold or given to private interests for short-term gain. Even better, the fund doesn't use taxpayer dollars; it derives its revenue from oil and gas companies leasing areas for drilling off our nation's coasts.
Yet despite this dependable stream of revenue, Congress has repeatedly failed to fulfill the promise of the Land and Water Conservation Fund. Nearly every year since the program's inception, lawmakers have diverted hundreds of millions of dollars of drilling revenue to other purposes. Land protection under the program has lagged, with a backlog of federal land acquisition needs estimated at more than $30 billion--including places vulnerable to development such as the Florida Everglades, Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona, Civil War battlefields in Virginia and other precious places around the country.
Now, the future of the entire Land and Water Conservation Fund program hangs in the balance. Without action by Congress before September 30, the program will be left to languish.
Shockingly, preventing new land from being protected is precisely the intention of some congressional leaders. Rep. Rob Bishop (R-Utah) has said the fund shouldn't be reauthorized unless it also trains new oil and gas workers. He also told reporters, "There's no way in hell I'm going to allow you to spend that just to buy the inholdings," referring to the privately held land within our national parks vulnerable to development.
Nonetheless, the Land and Water Conservation Fund enjoys bipartisan support, a rarity on Capitol Hill these days. Its staunchest champions include Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) and Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.). Earlier this year, key committee chair Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), together with ranking member Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wa.), introduced legislation to renew the Land and Water Conservation Fund before it expires.
Our parks deserve what we all want on our birthday: friends coming together, setting aside their disagreements, and having a good time. Congressional friends of land protection need to do just that: put business as usual on hold, and renew and fully fund the Land and Water Conservation Fund. That would be an awesome birthday present for the Park Service and for all of us.