The Indiana
Division of the Izaak Walton League of America is encouraging the public to
contact their federal legislators in support of a full reauthorization of
the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF.)
The Fund was
created in 1965 to provide a regular funding source for public land and
outdoor recreation. Over its 50-year history, LWCF has protected land in
every state and supported over 41,000 state and local park projects. Its 25
year reauthorization expires at the end of the month.
Indiana Division
president Tim Russell, of Hammond said, “The LWCF is used to create national
parks and national wildlife refuges and county and municipal parks too. It
is an incredibly important program.”
Porter County
Chapter president Jim Sweeney explained that $900 million annually is
generated by offshore oil and gas leases for LWCF, but most is diverted to
the general fund, “the Division (IWLA) passed a resolution last year that
called for the entire amount generated by the LWCF be used for its intended
purposes.”
Half of the amount
raised by the Fund is to be used for federal parks and refuges and the other
half for state and local parks. “The LWCF is used for local baseball and
soccer fields,” said Sweeney, “and we hope it will also be used to create
the Kankakee National Wildlife Refuge in Indiana and Illinois too.”
A factsheet from
the Land and Water Conservation Fund Coalition says the program funds:
*Â Increased
public land for federal, state, and local programs
*Â
Recreational trails and waterways
*Â Increased
access to parks, forests, wildlife refuges, etc.
*Â Preserving
historic battlefields and cultural sites
*Â
Safeguarding rivers, watersheds, and clean water
*Â Preserving
natural areas and wildlife habitat
*Â Supporting
local economies and jobs through increased outdoor recreation
“The Indiana
Division strongly supports the full reauthorization and full funding of the
Land and Water Conservation Fund and we encourage all Hoosiers to contact
their US Representatives and Senators and tell them to support it too,” said
Russell.