A Federal, State and Local Partnership since 1965
The L&WCF program provides matching grants to States and local governments to acquire and develop public outdoor recreation areas and facilities. The program is creating and maintaining a nationwide network of high quality recreation areas and facilities. L&WCF also stimulates non-federal investments in the protection of recreation resources across the United States.

The National Park Service administers the Land and Water Conservation Fund cooperatively with the States. The governor of each state designates one or more State Liaison Officers to work with the National Park Service to manage the state side of the L&WCF program. These designees and their staffs are the primary channels between the states, NPS, and local governments.

L&WCF Quick Facts:

• Enacted by Congress in 1965 to create and maintain a nationwide legacy of high quality recreation areas and facilities.
• Requires 50-50 match from state and local governments.
• Provides technical assistance with planning, grants and follow-up.
• Protects the funded area from being converted to non-recreational use.
• National web site: www.nps.gov/lwcf

NPS Role Spans Project Life and Beyond
States work closely with NPS to analyze recreation needs, set priorities for funding and select the projects. States submit project proposals to NPS based on their Open Project Selection System that is part of their Statewide Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan (SCORP). NPS conducts a final review and approval for grants and oversees project implementation and post-completion stewardship activity.

Over the past 38 years more than $936 million in Federal funds have been apportioned to the 13 states of the Northeast Region and District of Columbia to acquire and develop land for parks and open space. The investment on the part of the federal government was matched by at least an equal amount from state and local governments for a total commitment worth over $2 billion to parks, open space and recreation in the Northeast.

A Program that Looks to the Future
Americans in states and communities across the nation continue to take stock of the environment where they live and where their children and grandchildren are being raised. Urban sprawl has become a critical issue. With each passing year, the opportunity to find and preserve land for parks, open space, and recreation becomes increasingly limited as once available lands are more scarce and expensive.

The L&WCF program serves us into the future. Land acquired and/or developed with Fund assistance must be protected in perpetuity for parks and recreation. Use of parkland for purposes other than recreation is viewed as a conversion. Converted park property must be replaced with land of at least equal appraised value and equivalent recreation usefulness.

For more information on the Land and Water Conservaton Fund please call or email the Project Leader for your State.

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