Your ability to enjoy thousands of acres of public land, hiking local trails, wandering around streams or rivers or strolling beneath towering pines, is linked to an important program that has been around for over 50 years and currently needs your support. The Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) is a bipartisan program that was approved back in 1964 and supports 40,000 project sites and has conserved 7 million acres of public land for you to use. The best part is that it costs taxpayers literally nothing because of the way the fund is set up: earnings from offshore oil and gas leasing are invested in the fund, providing money for states to acquire land and water and the federal government “to achieve the natural, cultural, wildlife, and recreation management objectives of federal land management agencies,” according to the National Parks Service.

“The story of the LWCF – an attempt by Congress to conserve some of our nation’s vast riches, for the betterment of society at large – is the story of who we are as a citizenry,” said Backcountry Hunters & Anglers (BHA) President and CEO Land Tawney. “The LWCF enables us to secure forever our most valuable lands and waters, our most important fish and wildlife habitat, and our most critical access to great places to hunt and fish.”

Yet, this important conservation program could expire Sept. 30, which is why BHA has set up an interactive report that illustrates the importance of this program, highlighting LWCF “success stories” like the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest and the Ice Age Trail in Wisconsin and the Koochiching-Washington National Forest Legacy Conservation Area in Minnesota. BHA has also made it easy for you to voice your support in continuing LWCF permanently.

According to BHA, LWCF “is one of the most successful programs in the history of our nation” and its projects “have fueled a huge economic engine, creating the kind of communities that Americans want to live in, raise their families in, invest in and protect.” The irony is that many are unaware both of the significance of LWCF and the fact that it could expire at the end of this month.

Make sure to check out the information found here to keep this important program going.