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LWCF Manual

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Over its first 40 years, LWCF has provided more than $14.4 billion to acquire new federal recreation lands and as grants to State and local governments. For discussion purposes, the LWCF program can be divided into the "State side" -- that is grants to State and local governments, the primary theme of this site; and, the "Federal side" -- the portion of the LWCF that buys land in new forests, parks, wildlife refuges and other recreation areas owned by the national government.

The State Side

40,400 grants to state and local governments over 40 years:

• $3.7 billion, matched for a total of $7.4 billion
  
• 10,600 grants for acquisition of park and recreation lands, including 3,200 "combination" projects for both land purchase and initial recreation development


• 26,420 grants for development of recreation facilities, in addition to the "combination" projects above
  
• 2,760 grants for redevelopment of older recreation facilities, including improved access for people with disabilities
  
• 641 state planning grants, to produce six "generations" of analytic studies on recreation potentials, needs, opportunities and policies

Over 40,000 grants to states and localities have been approved under the LWCF grants program for acquisition, development and planning of outdoor recreation opportunities in the United States. Grants have supported purchase and protection of 3 million acres of recreation lands and over 29,000 projects to develop basic recreation facilities in every State and territory of the nation.

Seventy-five percent of the total funds obligated have gone to locally sponsored projects to provide close-to-home recreation opportunities that are readily accessible to America's youth, adults, senior citizens and the physically or mentally challenged. In addition to the thousands of smaller recreation areas, grants have helped to acquire and develop new parks of statewide or national significance such as the Allagash Wilderness Waterway (Maine), Liberty State Park (New Jersey), the Willamette River Greenway (Oregon), Platte River Park (Denver), Herman Brown Park (Houston), and Illinois Beach State Park (Chicago).

In addition to grants to state and local governments, Land & Water Conservation Fund(LWCF) has provided more than $5.5 billion to acquire new federal recreation lands. Following are just a few of the areas added to National park, forest, wildlife refuge, river and trail systems in the last 35 years, for which all or a major part of land purchases were funded by the Federal Side of the LWCF. In addition to new areas, the Fund has helped to expand existing areas through acquisition of key recreation and conservation sites in almost every National Forest and Wildlife Refuge east of the Rockies:

• Cape Cod National Seashore, Massachusetts


• Flaming Gorge Nat. Recreation Area, Utah, Wyo. (U.S. Forest Service)


• Ozark National Scenic Riverway, Missouri


• Padre Islands National Seashore, Texas


• Point Reyes National Seashore, California


• Assateague Island National Seashore, Maryland


• Sawtooth National Recreation Area, Idaho (U.S. Forest Service)


• Cape Lookout National Seashore, North Carolina


• Gulf Islands National Seashore, Texas


• North Cascades National Park, Washington


• Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area, Oregon (U.S. Forest Service)


• Buffalo National River, Arkansas


• Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, Indiana (Lake Michigan)


• Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, Michigan (Lake Superior)


• Redwoods National Park, California


• Lower Rio Grande Valley Nat. Wildlife Refuge, Tex.(U.S. Fish and Service)


• Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, Michigan (Lake Michigan)


• Apostle Islands National Lakeshore, Wisconsin (Lake Superior)


• St. Croix and Lower St. Croix Nat. Scenic Rivers, Minnesota, Wisconsin
  
• Rio Grande Wild and Scenic River, Texas


• Appalachian National Scenic Trail, Maine to Georgia


• North Cascades National Park, Washington


• Biscayne National Monument (is now National Park), Florida


• C&O Canal Nat. Historical Park, Dist. of Columbia, Maryland and West Virginia


• Voyageurs National Park, Minnesota


• Cumberland Island National Seashore, Georgia


• Buffalo National River, Arkansas


• Big Cypress National Preserve, Florida


• Lower Suwanee Nat.Wildlife Refuge, Florida (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)


• Big Thicket National Preserve, Texas


• Big South Fork National River, Kentucky, Tennessee


• Cuyahoga Valley National Recreation Area, Ohio


• Chicasaw National Recreation Area, Oklahoma


• Atchafalaya National Wildlife Refuge, Louisiana (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)


• Obed Wild & Scenic River, Tennessee


• Canaveral National Seashore, Florida


• Congaree Swamp National Monument, South Carolina


• Lowell National Historic Park, Massachusetts


• Pinelands National Reserve, New Jersey


• Delaware National Scenic River, Pennsylvania, New Jersey


• Chatahoochee River National Recreation Area, Georgia


• Missouri National Recreational River, Nebraska, South Dakota


• Jean Lafitte National Historic Park and Reserve, Louisiana


• Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, California


• New River Gorge National River, West Virginia


• Minnesota Valley Nat. Wildlife Refuge, Minnesota (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)


• Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site, Georgia


• Natchez Trace National Scenic Trail, Tennessee


• Mississippi National River and Recreation Area, Minnesota


• Steamtown National Historic Park, Pennsylvania


• Bluestone National Scenic River, West Virginia


• Petroglyph National Monument, New Mexico

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