Despite its widespread popularity, the 1965 Land and Water Conservation Fund (LCWF) is under threat of expiring in September without new authorization. Critics of the existing law want to see more funds used for long-deferred maintenance at existing parks, citing crumbling roads, run-down bathrooms, and leaking water systems.
Others want to see the Fund amended to divert money for States to invest in urban recreation. But others, including the Obama Administration and sportsmen groups, want to see the LCWF renewed as is. The chairs of the House and Senate committees with jurisdiction over the Fund have announced their intentions to reform the program but are not expected to introduce legislation before early September 2015.
The LCWF is funded mostly from offshore oil and gas royalties, and receives $900 million each year. However, Congress has appropriated half those funds since 1965, and in recent years has appropriated only about one-third of the funds. The law was intended to direct 60 percent of the funding to state grants, but only about 25 percent has been directed for that purpose, while 62 percent has been used for federal land acquisition.