Save land conservation fund

Each of us has our favorite spot outdoors. For me, it’s the Chattahoochee River. Many of us know that most of Atlanta’s drinking water comes from the Chattahoochee, but the river is also one of America’s great recreation spots.

The land, worth about $1.45 million, is located at the foot of historic Rogers Bridge, a span which dates back to the early 20th century. An open house begins at 10 a.m. (www.tpl.org/rogersbridge), part of National Public Lands Day, to celebrate the land we all own together (www.publiclandsday.org).

The Chattahoochee and its banks have become one of our greatest outdoor spaces, used annually by more than 3.5 million people for a wide variety of activities.

The gift by the Trust for Public Land is the organization’s latest success. Since 1995, the trust has partnered with groups and communities to protect a green corridor along the river, from Helen in the northern mountains, south to Columbus.

The new donation means the trust has protected almost 76 miles of river frontage and more than 16,000 acres of land costing more than $250 million.

The trust and the community have had help from the federal government through a program that is one of the most effective and yet one of the least-known. And on top of that, the program doesn’t even use taxpayers’ money.

It is called the Land and Water Conservation Fund and was created by Congress in 1964. Recently, the LWCF money was used to protect other land near Rogers Bridge.

Congress intended that $900 million a year should go into the fund.

The money comes from fees paid by oil companies who drill for oil and natural gas offshore. The idea is that some of the money the government receives from using natural resources we all own should go back into creating other public places.

And that is exactly how the program has worked. In our area, LWCF money has helped protect thousands of acres along the Chattahoochee, at Civil War battlefields such as Kennesaw Mountain and at the Martin Luther King Jr. Historic Site.

The LWCF is also a good economic investment. Each year, almost $3.5 billion is spent in Georgia by people using the outdoors.

Now, Congress is considering all but eliminating LWCF money. In the fiscal year starting Oct. 1, the House of Representatives has proposed to spend only about $90 million for the program, or about 10 percent of the money paid into the fund by oil companies.

Congress needs to cut the federal budget, just like everyone I know is doing with their own personal budgets. But cutting LWCF doesn’t help balance the budget. It just takes away the most effective tool there is for protecting land. I hope you agree that Congress shouldn’t end effective programs such as the LWCF.

David Martin is chairman of the Trust For Public Land’s Georgia council.