Speak up for the Land and Water Conservation Fund

GUEST COLUMN

MICHELE S. BYERS

Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, Appalachian Trail, Camden Waterfront Park, Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge, Branch Brook Park, Seven Presidents Park in Long Branch, Spruce Run and Round Valley recreation areas, Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, Island Beach State Park, Paterson’s Great Falls historic site, Monmouth Battlefield, Higbee Beach Wildlife Management Area.

What would New Jersey be without these popular parks, beaches, monuments, recreation areas and historic sites?

And they are just a handful of more than 300 special places in this state we are in that have benefited from a little-known but vitally important revenue source — the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund. New Jersey has received well over $1 billion from this fund in the past 50 years.

But the funds will stop without swift action by Congress to re-authorize the program, which is due to expire on Sept. 30.

The law establishing the Land and Water Conservation Fund was signed in September 1964 by President Lyndon Johnson. It created a dedicated, permanent means of funding land preservation and recreation – everything from magnificent national parks to small neighborhood playgrounds.

And it was done at no cost to taxpayers. The genius of the Land and Water Conservation Fund is that it is replenished entirely through a small portion of royalties collected by the federal government for allowing oil and gas companies to drill in public offshore waters.

Over the past 50 years, the Land and Water Conservation Fund has been used to preserve iconic landscapes in every state, including Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado, Mount Rainier National Park in Washington, the Gettysburg National Military Park in Pennsylvania and George Washington’s Mount Vernon in Virginia.

All five of New Jersey’s national wildlife refuges were preserved with funds from this program, as well as local, county and state parks in every corner of the state. In addition, tens of millions of dollars have been used to preserve forested water supply lands in the Pinelands and Highlands. Despite a half-century of preservation success and bipartisan support, the Land and Water Conservation Fund is in jeopardy.

The loss of America’s most important conservation program would slam the brakes on a powerful economic engine – recreation and tourism.

According to an Outdoor Industry Association report, outdoor recreation in New Jersey alone generates $17.8 billion in consumer spending every year. In turn, it supports 158,000 New Jersey jobs, which provide $6.1 billion in wages and salaries and $1.3 billion in state and local tax revenues. Outdoor recreation provides similar benefits throughout the nation.

So what can be done?

 Speak up for the Land and Water Conservation Fund. Contact your congressional representative and urge him or her to cosponsor bipartisan legislation (H.R. 1814) that reauthorizes the Land and Water Conservation Fund.

 Remind your congressional representative that parks, recreation areas and historic sites funded by the Land and Water Conservation Fund improve our quality of life, making New Jersey a vacation destination and a place where people want to live and work. Research shows that every $1 in spending from the fund returns $4 to the economy.

Here are some of the names of New Jersey’s congressional representatives who have not yet signed on as co-sponsors: Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-11), Rep. Scott Garrett (R-5), Rep. Leonard Lance (R-7), Rep. Tom MacArthur (R-3), Rep. Donald Norcross (D-1) and Rep. Bonnie Watson- Coleman (D-12).

 Thank the New Jersey congressmen who have already signed on as co-sponsors: Rep. Frank A. LoBiondo (R-2), Rep. Frank Pallone (D-6), Rep. Albio Sires (D-8) and Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr. (D-9).

To learn more about the Land and Water Conservation Fund, go to www.lwcfcoalition.org/

Michele S. Byers is the executive director of the New Jersey Conservation Foundation, Far Hills.