Ryan Zinke was a spectacular failure as Secretary of the Interior. When he wasn’t busy threatening employees, or giving handouts to the oil and gas industry, or getting investigated by Interior’s Inspector General, he found time to sabotage one of our country’s most effective tools for expanding conservation and outdoor recreation – the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF).
LWCF funds projects in every state, and nearly every county, in the country. This includes many of our favorite places in our communities like playgrounds, ball fields, and neighborhood parks. That’s one reason why LWCF is consistently popular with Americans of all political leanings. But Ryan Zinke supported slashing 2019 LWCF funding to a measly 1/50 of its 2018 budget. And Congress followed his lack of leadership and failed to reauthorize LWCF at all.
Lack of consistent dedicated funding for LWCF means expanded hunting and fishing access will remain closed to the public; and hiking, biking, and climbing routes will become overcrowded or left vulnerable to development. This hurts America’s $887 billion recreation economy and the 7.6 million American jobs on which it depends.
Contact your legislators today and tell them to stand up and defend our most important conservation and recreation program, the Land and Water Conservation Fund.
