Advocacy update: the fight to save LWCF; what needs to be done to save LWCF and who needs to do it.

Of all the federal assistance programs that NRPA members have supported in the history of our association, one program stands alone in the benefits it has delivered to park and recreation agencies at the local, county and state level--the Land and Water Conservation Fund state assistance program (LWCF).

The guiding principle behind LWCF was simple yet profound--a small portion of the revenues gained from the permanent extraction of offshore energy resources should result in a permanent conservation and recreation benefit to the American people. Since 1965, presidents and members of Congress have maintained firm bipartisan support for the LWCF stateside program, appropriating funding to the program time and again, despite ups and downs in funding levels for any given year.

Administered by the National Park service, the LWCF receives funds from royalty payments for oil and gas development leases of the Outer Continental Shelf in the Gulf of Mexico. Nearly $4 billion has been appropriated for LWCF stateside in the 40-year life of the act.

The accomplishments of LWCF stateside are manifold. More than 40,000 park and recreation projects across the nation and in U.S. territories have been supported by LWCF grants. Hundreds of thousands of acres of land have been purchased and are protected in perpetuity for conservation and public recreation. An astonishing 98 percent of all U.S. counties have received LWCF matching grants for park, recreation and conservation projects.

LWCF is Important to Every Park and Recreation Agency

LWCF has been the one consistent, reliable funding source for local park land acquisition and recreational facility development nationwide under State Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plans (SCORP).

Even though a number of larger states have initiated state-funded financing mechanisms for open space conservation and park acquisition, most states and localities still depend on LWCF as a primary funding source for park acquisition and recreation facility development.

It is no exaggeration to say that for most local and regional park acquisition and recreational facility development programs LWCF is the difference in whether a park is purchased, an athletic complex is developed or a community center is built.

More significantly, there is a growing consensus among park and recreation advocates that the LWCF state assistance program is the tie that binds our national interests in having quality park and recreation facilities in every community and state. It is truly in the national interest to accomplish these goals and it has been a goal of Congress for 40 years to enable communities to have close-to-home park and recreation areas so that all Americans can participate in active recreation to become healthy and stay fit.

Thus, the LWCF is vital to every park and recreation agency in America because it is the one national program that is intended to provide funds for permanent conservation of land and waters to every state and locality and to provide recreational access to public parks so that all Americans will have such opportunities in perpetuity. LWCF benefits us all, whether our county or city receives a grant in any given year. We all have a responsibility to be advocates for this valuable program that serves the interests of us all.

LWCF in Crisis

Despite the provable, demonstrated benefits this program has achieved for the American people, the LWCF state assistance program faces the gravest threat in its entire history right now, and unless we re-dedicate ourselves to saving this program, it could be terminated, as President Bush has proposed in the past two federal budgets, in the blink of an eye.

For the past two years, the flagship national program for parks and recreation at the state and local level has been threatened as it never has been before in its entire history.

The funding history of LWCF stateside has always been a roller coaster ride for one simple reason--when Congress approved use of OCS royalty revenues for the program, it unfortunately did not dedicate a portion of them to be used solely for LWCF purposes. Therefore, annual funding must go through the appropriations process even though the program is authorized by Congress at $900 million per year for the state and federal sides of LWCF

Also, funding for LWCF stateside must compete every year with other conservation programs within the budget of the Department of the Interior. Despite the will and intent of Congress and the support of many presidents, funds for LWCF are subject to reduction or elimination every year due to competition with other budget priorities and programs--or are otherwise subject to the will of the sitting President and current Congress.

What Needs to be Done

NRPA has led the fight to save LWCF many times, but never more critically than in the past year. If it were not for NRPA's spirited advocacy in 2005, the LWCF stateside program might have gone without funding, leading to its termination. Many other national organizations and coalitions joined NRPA in the fight to save LWCF, and more have come onboard this year, but the fight is even tougher.

We are extremely grateful for the support of these national coalition partners but the threat to the LWCF state assistance program is even more grave than last year because there is far less discretionary spending that Congress can fund in 2007.

But, there are some signs of hope. NRPA, the state affiliates, and our national coalition partners such as the National Coalition for Promoting Physical Activity (NCPPA), the Outdoor Industry Association (OIA), the National Association of State Outdoor Recreation Liaison Officers (NASORLO), the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association (SGMA), the US Soccer Foundation (USSF) and numerous other organizations have redoubled advocacy efforts for LWCF stateside. Our collective advocacy on Capitol Hill is beginning to make a difference. Congress is now hearing about the importance of LWCF from many quarters.

This past February, during the 2006 National Legislative Forum on Parks and Recreation, 400 NRPA members and advocates marched on Capitol Hill to circulate a "Dear Colleague" letter in the Senate, calling for funding of LWCF stateside co-sponsored by Sens. Ken Salazar (D-Colo.), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Robert Menendez (D-N.J) and Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.). This letter generated 52 signatures of a bipartisan group of senators standing up for LWCF. A similar letter in the House coauthored by Reps. James McGovern (D-Mass.), Peter King (R-N.Y.), and Rush Holt (D-N.J.) gathered more than 150 signatures of like-minded members.

Other signs have been encouraging as well. New Secretary of the Interior, Dirk Kempthorne, a former mayor of Boise, Idaho, and two-term Governor of Idaho, who has witnessed the benefits of LWCF grants in his state, publicly expressed his support for LWCF at his confirmation hearings and since he has been in office. New national coalition partners are standing up for LWCF. A new human-powered recreational advocacy coalition--the Outdoor Alliance --wants to support advocacy for LWCF.

On the administrative level, NRPA, with the invaluable assistance of the Ohio Recreation and Park Association, has engaged the President's Office of Management and Budget (OMB) in a dialogue to re-examine the factors that led to a poor score on an OMB program performance review called the PART analysis that inexplicably gave LWCF a score of "Results not Demonstrated" ultimately one reason for the recommendation to terminate the program. NRPA, in cooperation with the National Park Service, has proposed development of new performance measures, especially those based on improving the health and wellness of all Americans. OMB has indicated their interest in examining these proposals.

On another front, Senators Alexander and Salazar have worked to secure a provision in the Senate-passed Gulf of Mexico Energy Independence Act (S. 3711) to dedicate 12.5 percent of lease revenue payments as a "conservation royalty" from a new lease area in the western Gulf that would be dedicated solely to LWCF stateside. While this bill must be conferenced with a problematic House off-shore energy bill (H.R. 4761), there is real hope that there may be a prospect for dedicated funding for LWCF--something that NRPA advocates have sought for nearly 40 years.

It is vitally important that as our efforts to secure annual and long-term funding proceeds, that we reverse the termination threat. This can only be accomplished by a steady drum-beat of advocacy from citizens in every state, county and city in the nation to their Members of Congress about the value and benefits of LWCF.

NRPA, with the cooperation of the state affiliates and a number of national organizations, will continue to pursue the development of adequate and acceptable performance measures that show OMB what we all know to be true--that LWCF stateside does meet important national goals and that it performs efficiently and effectively for the U.S. taxpayers.

What can you do to help save the LWCF? It is simple: Pick up the phone, sit down at your computer or go the fax machine. Tell each of your members of Congress, namely your representative and both of your U.S. senators that the LWCF program is important to you personally as a constituent and that this program is important to your community and your state. While you are at it, tell your mayor, your county council member, your state representatives and your governor as well, and ask them to add their voices to our advocacy.

We can save the Land and Water Conservation Fund state assistance program if you will help. Won't you do so now?

Action Alert

You Can Help LWCF Now

See what LWCF has done in your state and your hometown at http://waso-lwcf. ncrc.nps.gov/public/index.cfm.

Go to the NRPA Web site and download an LWCF fact sheet for your state that will explain what your state's needs are: http://ga0.org/nrpa/notice-description. tcl?newsletter_id=4167051.

Then, call your Members of Congress at [phone], and explain to them why LWCF is important to your community and the country as a whole.

Richard J. Dolesh, CPRP, is director of NRPA's Public Policy Division. He can be reached at [phone] or rdolesh@ nrpa.org.