NYNJTC: Americans for Our Heritage and Recreation on LWCF

1. In the last few years, after much effort on behalf of park advocates nationwide, the stateside Land and Water Conservation Fund had finally found some support with Congress and the Administration. The President even campaigned on behalf of fully funding the program, calling for increased close to home recreation. It seemed decision-makers had finally figured out that partnering federal recreation dollars with state and local funding was a sure-fire way of bringing park and recreation opportunities to constituents back home.

But, with the release of his FY 2006 budget this morning, the President has backtracked on his promise to fully fund LWCF and essentially given up any federal responsibility for providing Americans with viable opportunities to hike, bike, paddle, walk or get physically active in places that are publicly accessible. Under the guise of “making government more effective,” the President zeroed out funding for stateside LWCF and essentially told the states and municipalities to “go it alone” when finding resources to create and develop parks and recreation areas. This despite epidemic rates of obesity and our Surgeon General making the case for increased access to close to home recreation facilities.

He also significantly cut funding for federal LWCF, allocating a mere $147 million toward that program – the lowest funding level in a decade.

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2. The National Park Service has released its 2004 annual report on stateside LWCF assistance. The report details the good work of the program and stands as testament to what an effective federal/state program can accomplish when given the resources to accomplish its goals. But, don't believe me, download a copy of the report for yourself at http://www.ahrinfo.org/

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3. AHR is in the midst of organizing a national campaign to make the connection among parks, people, and health. Called the “American Outdoor Communities Campaign,” the project will ask communities across the country to grade themselves on their ability to provide outdoor recreation opportunities for their residents. Teaming up with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, AHR seeks to bring this campaign to 200 communities in all fifty states. For more information, check out our synopsis of the program at http://www.ahrinfo.org/whatsnew.html.

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