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Help Save the Land & Water Conservation Fund (LWCF)

 

A  powerful congressman–along with the special interests that support him–is seeking to dismantle the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF), America’s most successful and popular parkland protection program.

Congressman Rob Bishop (R-UT), who chairs the House Natural Resources Committee, is blocking bipartisan efforts to reauthorize the 50 year old program and seeking to replace LWCF with a scheme that completely betrays the program’s conservation purposes.

The LWCF is based on a very conservative idea: use a small portion of revenues from the depletion of one type of natural resource - offshore oil and gas - to support the conservation of others, our land and water. For 50 years this program has enjoyed broad bipartisan support as a critical tool in the protection of land for hunting, fishing, hiking, camping and virtually any other outdoor activity.

The land protected with LWCF dollars belongs to–and is available to–all Americans. It pays huge dividends in our quality of life, our health, and our economic well-being. Beyond recreation, LWCF investments safeguard our water supplies, protect critical wildlife habitat, reduce wildfire losses and help prevent flooding. And it does all of this without a dime of taxpayer money.

Congressman Bishop’s attempt to undermine LWCF is part of his broader obsession to dismantle natural resource protections and surrender America’s public lands to the special interests that support him. Everyone who cherishes and depends on America’s great outdoors will be irrevocably harmed if his radical legislation becomes law.

Help safeguard our rich natural heritage of spectacular public lands—parks, forests, wildlife refuges, national monuments, and other special places—that not only refresh and inspire each of us, but will enhance the quality of life for our children and grandchildren. Please let your representatives in Congress know that you value LWCF and strongly oppose the Bishop proposal.

You can use the Congress Look Up tool on the right of this alert to access your congressman’s web form. A sample letter is included below. Feel free to use in its entirety, in part, or simply as a reference for your letter.

 

SAMPLE LETTER

Dear Congressman (or Senator) ___________:

I am a conservative who cares about outdoor recreation and our nation’s public lands. I strongly oppose Representative Rob Bishop’s radical and irresponsible draft legislation to destroy the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) and ask you to do the same.

His proposed bill is NOT reform, it would dismantle a smart, effective—and conservative—conservation program with a scheme that completely betrays LWCF’s conservation purposes.

With broad bipartisan support, LWCF has been a critical tool in the protection of land for hunting, fishing, hiking, camping and virtually any other outdoor activity. This is land that belongs to—and is available to—all Americans. It pays huge dividends in our quality of life, our health, and our economic well-being. Beyond recreation, LWCF investments safeguard our water supplies, protect critical wildlife habitat, reduce wildfire losses and help prevent flooding.

And it does all of this without a dime of taxpayer money! What is more conservative than that?

Bishop’s proposed rewrite would effectively destroy LWCF, which for 50 years has been America’s best park protection program, and replace it with a congressional slush fund for unrelated spending.

Instead of being faithful to LWCF’s purpose—using the small portion of oil and gas royalty revenue to balance resource use with conservation—Bishop’s scheme would divert at least 20 percent of LWCF monies to new programs designed to accelerate resource development and benefit special interests.

Because his bill, ironically called the “PARC Act,” practically zeros out federal land acquisition funds, it is an anti-parks bill that would put 172 of our national parks with inholdings—including Civil War battlefields—at risk from development.

This attempt to undermine LWCF is part of Representative Bishop’s broader obsession to dismantle natural resource protections and surrender America’s public lands to special interests for “disposal.” Everyone who cherishes and depends on America’s great outdoors will be irrevocably harmed if his radical legislation becomes law.

Please oppose the Bishop plan to destroy LWCF! Instead, support the prudent and bipartisan Senate LWCF re-authorization plan developed by Senators Murkowski and Cantwell.

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