They want elbowroom and a chance to hear the sounds of silence. Private land trusts, along with state and local governments, are doing great things. But the federal government has the biggest pot of money available for these purposes. That pot, LWCF, works two ways. Most of the money goes toward acquisition, from willing sellers, of lands within or next to our national parks, forests, wildlife refuges, and Bureau of Land Management areas.
Funds also can go toward state and local projects.
Since 1965 some 40,000 projects have been underwritten with LWCF funds. Unfortunately, over the past four years, no money has been made available for these endeavors. The Administration's plan would end that moratorium. As Gaylord Nelson, Earth Day founder and now Counselor here at The Wilderness Society, has said, there's no factory making land. As he put it, once a field or forest is turned into a shopping mall, there's no changing it back.