In 1964, with bipartisan support, Congress created the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) to protect our public lands, waters, and cultural sites and ensure that all Americans have access to outdoor recreation opportunities. The basic idea behind this fund is simple -- revenues paid to the federal government by companies drilling in the Outer Continental Shelf should support the conservation of other public lands and waters to benefit the American people.
Initially, Congress approved funding for the LWCF for 25 years. In 1990, Congress reauthorized it for another 25 years and in 2015 it reauthorized it again for an additional three years. In 2018, The Mountain Pact began to advocate the reauthorization as well as full and permanent funding of LWCF. In 2019, with overwhelming bipartisan support, Congress passed the John D. Dingell, Jr. Conservation, Management, and Recreation Act, which included the permanent authorization of the LWCF.
On August 4, 2020, after decades of tireless advocacy by countless individuals and organizations, and with bipartisan support, the Great American Outdoors Act became law. This landmark legislation permanently and fully funds LWCF at $900 million annually. It also adds $12 billion to address the crippling maintenance backlog and our national parks and other public lands. This tremendous accomplishment ensures that many of our public lands will be maintained for future generations to enjoy and provides a much needed economic boost for our Western mountain communities as they recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Mountain Pact ACTIONS
2021
In February, the Biden administration’s Department of Interior announced that it would be rescinding former Secretary David Bernhardt’s Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) Secretarial Orders that added a litany of arbitrary restrictions on LWCF funding. The Mountain Pact released this statement and it was covered by Colorado Newsline.
The Mountain Pact joined over 500 other organizations in signing onto a letter showing support for Representative Deb Haaland to become the next Secretary of the Department of Interior. Our quote was covered by Common Dreams.
2020
In response to President Trump’s budget release on February 10, 2020, local elected officials from Reno, Nevada as well as Steamboat Spring and Avon, Colorado released a statement on Trump’s Proposed Gutting of the Land and Water Conservation Fund.
Reno Council member Devon Reese called for full and permanent LWCF funding once and for all in the Reno Daily Gazette on February 17, 2020. Senator Rosen of Nevada praised this op-ed in a Letter to the Editor on March 18, 2020.
Salida, Colorado Mayor P.T. Wood calls on Congress to permanently fund the Lands and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF). "The continued under-investment in America’s public lands system is harmful to western communities and shortchanges all Americans." via The Colorado Sun.
The Mountain Mail covered Salida, Colorado Mayor P.T. Wood’s thoughts on the President’s budget on February 25, 2020.
In response to President Trump's tweet changing course on Land and Water Conservation Fund funding and Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt's testimony in the Senate Appropriations Committee, Anna Peterson, Executive Director of The Mountain Pact, gave this statement which was covered by Colorado Politics.
On March 11, 2020, The Mountain Pact held a media telepress call with from Mayor Sarah Smith Hymes, Town of Avon, CO; Mayor P.T. Wood, Town of Salida, CO; Kathy Chandler-Henry, Chair, Eagle County Commissioners; and Anna Peterson, Executive Director of the Mountain Pact. You can listen to the call here.
At the end of April, 2020, Mountain Pact’s Celia Barotz and Flagstaff Arizona’s former Vice Mayor had an op-ed publish in the Arizona Daily Sun highlighting the need to Fund LWCF during the COVID Pandemic.
On May 6, 2020 over 100 local elected officials from all 11 Western states sent a letter to Congress asking them to fully fund the Land and Water Conservation Fund as part of an economic stimulus package. The Mountain Pact covered this in a media release. The letter and effort was covered by E&E News, Politico, KUNR, Colorado Politics, Cowboy State Daily, Arizona Daily Sun online and print edition, Bozeman Daily Chronicle, Idaho Mountain Express, Durango Herald, Colorado Business Journal, Revitalization, and Cortez Journal. Representative Neguse (CO-D) also mentioned our letter in a press release.
10 Communities sent an individual letter to their Congressional Delegation as well. These included:
In response to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s statement on May 20 that the Senate would take up the Great American Outdoors Act when it returns in June, The Mountain Pact, gave these statements.
On May 26, 2020, Town of Frisco, Colorado council member Melissa Sherburne wrote about why we all need public lands to recover from the Coronavirus pandemic for the Colorado Sun and the Montrose Daily Press.
On June 14, 2020, Steamboat Spring councilwoman Sonja Macy’s wrote about the Great American Outdoors Act in her column in the Steamboat Pilot.
On June 17, 2020, the U.S. Senate voted 73-25 for the Great American Outdoors Act which will permanently and fully fund LWCF. The Mountain Pact released this statement which was covered by the Durango Herald, The Pine River Times, Teton Valley News, Cortez Journal, The Denver Post, Sterling Journal-Advocate, Fox 31, and the Bozeman Daily Chronicle. Senator Bennet also included a statement from The Mountain Pact in his press release around Senate passage of the bill. That was covered by Denver 7 News.
In response to the Representative Bishop stirring up misguided trouble around the Great American Outdoors Act, bipartisan legislation that will fully and permanently funding the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) and provide much needed funding for the crippling $12 billion deferred maintenance backlog at our national parks, The Mountain Pact released this statement.
In July, to urge California House of Reprentative members to vote for the Great American Outdoors Act, Truckee Mayor Dave Polivy, Mammoth Lakes Council Member John Wentworth, and South Lake Tahoe Council Member Devin Middlebrook wrote an op-ed for California Mountain communities papers The Tahoe Daily, Sierra Sun, My Shot, and South Lake Tahoe Now.
9 Communities sent an individual letter to their Congressional Delegation asking their Representatives to vote for the Great American Outdoors Act. These included:
On July 16, Sonja Macys, Steamboat Springs Council Members wrote a Letter to the Editor in the Steamboat Pilot urging Representative Tipton to vote for the Great American Outdoors Act. The Snowmass Town Council also approved sending a letter to the Representative. The opinion piece was signed by nearly 40 western Colorado mountain community local elected officials and covered by the Aspen Times and the Vail Daily.
In response to the U.S. House of Representatives passing the Great American Outdoors Act on July 22, 2020, a piece of bi-partisan legislation that will fully and permanently fund the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) and provide much needed funding for the crippling $12 billion deferred maintenance backlog at our national parks, The Mountain Pact and 20 local elected officials gave these statements which were covered by Ark Valley News, Co Politics, and South Lake Tahoe News, Colorado Springs Gazette, The Denver Post, Oregon Public Broadcasting, Missoula Current, Oregon NPR, Teton Valley News, Longmont Times Call, CAP Radio, KALW, and The Bozeman Chronicle.
Mountain Pact Executive Director, Anna Peterson, was also quoted in a Press Release from Representative Neguse’s office. This was picked up by Real Vail and the Estes Park Trail Gazette.
On October 21, 2020 nearly 70 county commissioners, mayors, and council members from public land gateway communities in 11 western states sent a letter to their congressional offices asking them to add a Gateway Community Dividend to the Payments in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) program. This was covered by Buckrail News and the Santa Fe New Mexican.
On November 13, 2020, the Department of Interior (DOI) issued a Secretarial Order regarding the implementation of the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) and The Great American Outdoors Act. The Order adds a litany of new arbitrary provisions including:
● Allowing state veto of federal public land protection projects;
● Eliminating funding for Bureau of Land Management land acquisition; and
● Restricting future LWCF funds from helping to create new units of public land.
In response, Anna Peterson, Executive Director of The Mountain Pact, issued this statement and it was covered by Common Dreams, Alternet, E&E News, The Santa Fe New Mexican, Taos News, High County News, The Missoula Current, Grist, The Missoulian, and The Billings Gazette.
Mono County Supervisor Jennifer Kreitz spoke was interviewed on Morning Edition on December 4, 2020 about the Land and Water Conservation Fund and Great American Outdoors Act implementation challenges with the Department of Interior. You can listen to her interview here.
2019
On February 4, 2019, The Mountain Pact, urged the U.S. Senate to take bipartisan action and permanently reauthorize the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) as part of a public lands package. This effort was covered by SNEWS and The Durango Telegraph.
On February 12, 2019, The Senate, with bipartisan support, passed a public lands package that included LWCF reauthorization after four months in limbo. This was covered by SNEWS.
On February 26, 2019, The House passed the large public lands package which included LWCF reauthorization.
On March 12, 2019, The President signed the John D. Dingell, Jr. Conservation, Management, and Recreation Act into law. Read the Mountain Pact Statement on Reauthorization of The Land and Water Conservation Fund and Administration’s Budget’s Elimination of LWCF Funding in Budget. This was covered by SNEWS, The Summit Daily, Whitefish Pilot, Sky-Hi Daily, and the Vail Daily.
On March 27, 2019, Summit County, Utah Commissioners penned an opinion editorial in the Park Record urging Congress to permanently fund the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF).
In April 2019, Routt County, Colorado Commissioners signed a letter supporting funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund. This was covered by the Steamboat Pilot and Today.
On May 22, 2019, Secretary of the Interior, David Bernhardt responded to inquiries by the Senate Appropriations Committee on the Administrations Fiscal Year 2020 Budget and lack of funding for the LWCF as well as environmental and wildlife protections. This was covered by SNEWS.
On June 11, 2019, 151 local elected officials from all 11 Western states, and 46 communities sent a letter to Congress asking them to fully fund the Land and Water Conservation Fund. This included 19 full city/county commissions. The Mountain Pact covered this in a Media Release. This was covered by The Summit Daily Times, The Missoula Current, and via two stories in the Sierra Sun.
13 Communities sent an individual letter to their Congressional Delegation as well. These included:
Breckenridge, Colorado Mayor Eric Mamula wrote a guest opinion piece for the Summit Daily on how public lands and LWCF are the foundation of the outdoor recreation industry.
The Mountain Pact Executive Director, Anna Peterson, had an opinion editorial run in the Colorado Sun and the Montrose Daily in August calling on Congress to include full, permanent, mandatory funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund.
In August 2019, Sonja Macy’s, a Steamboat Springs, Colorado council member wrote a Letter to the Editor in the Steamboat Pilot detailing why the Land and Water Conservation Fund needs to be fully funded.
The Mountain Pact brought five Western local elected officials to DC in mid-September 2019 for a Fly-in to discuss concerns around fully and permanently funding the Land and Water Conservation Fund. This was covered by the Aspen Daily News and via op-eds in the Pueblo Chieftain, La Junta Tribune-Democrat, Tahoe Mountain News, and South Lake Tahoe Now.
Fly-in participants spoke about the importance of fully funding the LWCF. Watch the videos here.
On September 26, 2019, the Senate Interior Appropriations Subcommittee announced a proposed funding level of $465 million for Fiscal Year 2020 for the Land and Water Conservation Fund. Read The Mountain Pact’s Statement here.
On December 10, 2019, five mayors from the western mountain communities of Driggs, Idaho; Moab, Utah; Glenwood Springs, Avon, and Ophir, Colorado spoke on a press call about the urgent need for Congress to pass full LWCF funding. Read about it in E&E News, The Post Register, The Moab Times, Teton Valley News and KUER.
On December 19, 2019, Six Mountain Pact community mayors, mayors pro tem, and a county commissioners released statements on the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) funding level in the budget appropriations bill, it was covered by Colorado Politics.
2018
On August 8th, 2018 sixty-four local elected officials sent in a letter to Congress urging them to reauthorize and fully fund the Land and Water Conservation Fund.
Accompanying this letter, the Mountain Pact released a new report ‘The Case for Reauthorizing and Fully Funding The Land and Water Conservation Fund - Why Congress Must Act’.
Five Mountain Pact city council members and mayor pro tems from Aspen, Telluride, Avon, Frisco, Colorado, as well as Bend, Oregon traveled to Washington DC in April, 2018 to ask members of congress and the administration to fully fund and permanently reauthorize LWCF.
Avon Colorado's Mayor Pro Tem Sarah Smith Hymes published an op-ed in The Hill on April 23, 2018.
The Mountain Pact Executive Director, Anna Peterson, was quoted in E&E News speaking about Secretary Zinke’s Statement on LWCF on May 10, 2018.
Whitefish, Montana City Council Member Richard Hildner, was quoted in The Missoula Current on May 10, 2018.
Bend Oregon's City Council Member Nathan Boddie published an op-ed in the Bend Bulletin on May 28th, 2018.
Ridgway, Colorado Mayor John Clark published an op-ed in the Telluride Daily Planet on August 30th, 2018.
Estes Park, Colorado Town Administrator Frank Lancaster published an op-ed in the Boulder Daily Camera on August 31st, 2018.
Whitefish, Montana city councilor, Richard Hildner published an op-ed in the Flathead Beacon on September 12th, 2018.
Missoula City Council alderman representing Ward 1 and City Council President Bryan von Lossberg and Sen. Nate McConnell published an op-ed in the Missoulian on September 20, 2018.
On September 27th, 2018 seven organizations - in partnership with The Mountain Pact - sent a letter to Congress urging them to fully fund and reauthorize the Land and Water Conservation Fund. On September 29th the Summit Daily News and Sky-Hi News in Colorado ran articles showcasing the letter.
Hood River City Council member, Peter Cornelison published an op-ed on October 29th, 2018 in The Oregonian on the value of Congress permanently authorizing and fully funding the Land and Water Conservation Fund.
A key goal of this policy campaign was to bring media attention to the issue and highlight mountain community support for the Land and Water Conservation Fund through coverage in Colorado Politics, The Gazette, Durango Herald, Inside Outdoors, Everett Herald, Antelope Valley Press, Bozeman Daily Chronicle, and the Aurora Sentinel.
On December 20, 2018, Congress failed to reauthorize and fully fund LWCF. Read The Mountain Pact’s media statement and coverage in SNEWS.
If you are interested in more information about this or The Mountain Pact in general, please email info@themountainpact.org.