- March 8, 2012 Coalition Applauds Senate for Dedicated Conservation Funding
- February 13, 2012 Coalition Applauds President's Continued Support for Conservation Funding
- December 17, 2011 Conservation, Business and Sportsmen Groups Applaud Congressional Efforts to Protect LWCF Funding in FY12 Budget
- July 25, 2011- New Bipartisan Poll Shows Overwhelming Support Across America for Land and Water Conservation Fund
- July 13, 2011- National Bipartisan Poll Memo
- May 31, 2011- Over One-Third of the U.S. House of Representatives Sign Letter Supporting Funding for LWCF
- April 14, 2011- Conrad Anchor Testimony Release
- December 20, 2010 - Senate Urged to Join House and Pass Bill with Full Funding for Conservation Program »
- August 3, 2010 - Senate Urged to Join House and Pass Bill with Full Funding for Conservation Program »
- July 15, 2010 - House Committee Passes Bill Securing Funding for Conservation and Recreation Program »
- April 16, 2010 - America's Great Outdoors Conference Focuses on Need for Vital Land, Recreation Funding »
- February 1, 2010 - Obama's Budget Includes Key Funding for Land & Water »
- November 6, 2009 - Senate Bill Would Fulfill Longstanding Promise for Conservation and Recreation Program »
- September 17 , 2009 - Coalition Supports Conservation at House Hearing »
Last updated February 17, 2011 10:56 a.m. PT
Reichert bucks party, preserves conservation fund
by Why of note?
Two of the federal program's most significant acquisitions were in the 3rd District of Southwest Washington, which Herrera Beutler represents in Congress' lower house.
The LWCF was used to acquire an 800-year-old cedar forest on Long Island in Willapa Bay, and add the land to the Willapa National Wildlife Refuge. The forest is inhabited by a herd of Roosevelt Elk, a species saved from extinction a century ago by Republican President Theodore Roosevelt.
As well, LWCF bucks created the Julia Butler Hansen National Wildlife Refuge, protecting endangered white tail deer in tiny Wahkaikum County along the Columbia River.
The refuge is named after the late 3rd District Rep. Julia Butler Hansen -- aka "the little old lady in logger's boots" -- who helped initially fund the Land and Water Conservation Fund.
The stakes in the House vote were clear. "This LWCF cut doesn't take us back to 2008 funding levels: It takes us back to Lyndon B. Johnson levels, before the program even existed," said Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass.
The land acquisition program has left footprints across Washington.
It has been used to purchase private inholdings in Mount Rainier, Olympic and North Cascades National Parks. It bought up land along Keystone Spit and Crockett Lake on Whidbey Island, protecting a renowned raptor-heron habitat and recreation beach from pending subdivision.
The LWCF helped assemble land for the Skagit River Eagle Sanctuary, protecting one of two major winter feeding areas in the "lower 48" states for the bird that is America's national symbol.
The LWCF was used to acquire delta land for the Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge, site of one of major tideland and salmon restoration efforts in the country. It was visited and celebrated by the Bush administration's Interior Secretary Gale Norton.
The land acquisition program is not bleeding the federal budget. President Obama pointed this out Wednesday: Obama wants to fully fund the LWCF in the next fiscal year.