Senators Collins, King Announce LWCF Grants to Help Preserve Parks and Public Lands Across Maine

Statement

U.S. Senators Susan Collins and Angus King, a member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, announced today that the National Park Service has awarded funding to 10 organizations and municipalities throughout the state of Maine. This funding is provided through the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF), a partnership program that provides matching funds to states and local communities for conservation of parks and open space

"The LWCF is America's most successful conservation and outdoor recreation program. The LWCF has been instrumental in establishing and maintaining outdoor recreation space in Maine and across our nation. These important investments will help protect and preserve a number of Maine's parks and recreation facilities that are vital not only to our communities, but to our way of life," said Senators Collins and King.

The LWCF is a partnership program that provides matching funds to states and local communities for acquisition, development, and conservation of parks and open spaces.

Despite strong support bipartisan support for the LWCF, on September 30th, 2015, the authority to collect revenue into the LWCF Fund expired.

"While the program will continue to be funded under the short-term funding agreement beyond the September 30 expiration date, we must act quickly to make certain this critical program is properly supported," Senators Collins and King continued. "We have long advocated for a permanent reauthorization of the LWCF to ensure that this important connection to our nation's conservation effort in Maine and across our country is not lost. We will continue to work with our colleagues on both sides of the isle to permanently extend our nation's premier federal conservation program."

Senator Collins and Senator King are both cosponsors of bipartisan legislation that would permanently reauthorize LWCF, S. 338.

In September, a bipartisan coalition of 53 senators led by Senators Collins, Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Richard Burr (R-N.C.), and Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), and joined by Senator King, authored a letter calling on Senate leadership to permanently reauthorize and adequately fund the nation's premier federal conservation program, now in its 50th year.

In June, Senators Collins and Steve Daines (R-MT) offered an amendment to the Fiscal Year 2016 Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill which was approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee and passed as part of the reported bill. The amendment adds another $13.9 million for the LWCF Program, bringing it in line with the current funding level.

In a Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing earlier this year, Senator King called on Congress to permanently reauthorize and fully fund the program, and in July, he voted in support of a bill that would also reauthorize the program.

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