Ensuring good water quality remains the IWLA's top goal. During the 1960s and 1970s, the League launched the Save Our Streams Program and broke the political ground necessary for passage of the landmark 1972 Clean Water Act. Currently, Ikes are leading the fight to fund and strengthen the Clean Water Act during its reauthorization and to fend off efforts in Congress to weaken wetlands protection provisions. The League also spearheaded protection of public lands, such as the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, the National Elk Refuge in Wyoming, Everglades National Park, the Upper Mississippi National Wildlife and Fish Refuge, and Isle Royale National Park. In addition, the IWLA led the effort to create the Land and Water Conservation Fund, the major source of revenue for parkland acquisition and recreational facilities.
Wildlife protection remains a major focus as well.
National projects include organizing the 1926 campaign to protect black bass, a late 1980s purchase of a helicopter to help wildlife law officers catch waterfowl poachers in the Gulf of Mexico, and a 19-year outdoor ethics campaign to improve behavior by outdoor recreationists. Time after time, Ikes have won battles against all odds. There was never enough money. During the past 79 years, no other conservation group in the country has had such a profound effect on the nation's conservation policies. During the next century, conservation will not keep pace with the daunting array of new challenges we face without more participation from America's political heartland.