“America’s national parks are our country’s masterpieces of nature and history. The Italians have the Coliseum, the French have the Mona Lisa, but we have Yosemite and Yellowstone. And, like the most famous castles and canvasses of Europe, we take for granted that our most prized places are safely guarded for future generations.”
Those words are from Ken Salazar, former Secretary of Interior, senator from my state, and all round good guy.
The reason Ken is writing about our parks is because a large piece of budget neutral funding has been in limbo for a few months ever since it failed to get renewed in the House. (I’d highly recommend reading Ken’s own words at the link above, it’s not long and it’s a lot better than my post here.) The Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) is about as non controversial bi partisany piece of government to come down the pike. Oh, congress steals money out of it regularly, but never before have they killed the program by failing to renew it. Usually it’s about $300 million for doing good which is a ton of money for conservation.
What Ken and a whole lot of other people like about the LWCF is that it funds the purchase of private inholdings within National Parks, Wilderness Areas, Wildlife Refuges etc. The fund allows us to shore up our public lands and make them whole. I like that it is used to buy access to public land that is inaccessible due to being blocked by private.
More important probably than my access to areas to hunt and hike, or your better enjoyment and protection of National Parks, are all the small and unimpressive small parks and playgrounds, recreation areas, etc close in or amidst major metro areas. Parks and Wilderness are great for that small percentage of us that use them. Probably more important are the small natural areas purchased in the middle of large cities.
It’s a good time to call your senator and your congressman. People of all political stripes support the Land and Water Conservation Fund. Everyone from CA governor Jerry Brown to Wyoming governor Matt Mead. My ultra conservative senator Cory Gardner supports it. The only politicians who don’t support it are the anti public lands types led by Utah’s Rob Bishop. Bishop heads the House Natural Resources Committee.
If any of these congress critters below are yours, please call them. This is one time when your Republican congressman really wants to vote the way you want him to. The LWCF needs to be “fully funded” and “made permanent”. The money comes from a tiny charge on offshore oil drilling.
REPUBLICANS:
Rob BishopCHAIRMAN
Utah, 1st District
The Democrats on the committee are at the link here naturalresources.house.gov/… but I doubt they need persuasian on how to vote. Wouldn’t hurt to give them a call.