With a bipartisan vote in July, the House of Representatives passed the Great American Outdoors Act (S. 3422), providing permanent funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) at the authorized amount of $900 million annually at no additional cost to taxpayers. The program will help national and local parks, public lands, and athletic fields across the country. This $900 million dedicated to the conservation fund support the $887-billion outdoor recreation industry and protects natural areas from development. LWCF is a critical tool to protect landscapes, recreation areas, wetlands, and wildlife refuges in Connecticut and has funded over $60 million in conservation projects across the state since the program’s creation in 1965. These projects included funding to help acquire or expand places like Sherwood Island, Weir Farm, Carwin Park, Oyster Shell Park, the Stamford Nature Center, Johnson Oak Park, Jennings Beach, and many other outdoor recreation spaces.
The bill also creates a new fund, the National Parks and Public Land Legacy Restoration Fund, to address facilities and infrastructure projects. The National Park Service will get 70% of this funding with the rest going to other federal agencies like the Forest Service. This bill will help address the deferred maintenance backlog of $2.3 million at Connecticut’s National Park sites, like Weir Farm National Historic Site in Ridgefield/Wilton.
We thank our Connecticut delegation for supporting this important bill- a bill that Preservation Connecticut signed onto with the National Trust for Historic Preservation and about 780 colleagues, in April. Congressman Jim Himes said in a statement, “Our identity and economy are tied to the land, especially the Sound, and we have an obligation to conserve and improve the spaces around us.” We couldn’t agree more!