Congressional Bipartisan Agreement Could Protect Ohio's "Crown Jewels"
Mary Kuhlman, Managing Editor
Monday, July 27, 2015
COLUMBUS, Ohio - Conservationists are praising a rare bit of bipartisan cooperation in Congress to fund a program for public areas and historic and wilderness lands in Ohio and around the nation.
The Land and Water Conservation Fund takes a small portion of revenues from offshore oil and gas development and spends that on many different kinds of public lands.
The 50-year-old program is set to expire in days. But Amy Lindholm, director LWCF with The Wilderness Society, says Alaska Republican Lisa Murkowski and Washington State Democrat Maria Cantwell have reached an agreement that could keep the funding in place.
"LWCF has been incredibly successful over the past 50 years," says Lindholm. "Those projects are vital things to their communities, and we want to see them continue. So, we're really thrilled with the agreement."
Conservation programs have traditionally enjoyed bipartisan support in Congress, although that has lapsed into acrimony of late. Observers hope this can mark a return to cooperation.
Andy Williamson is Great Lakes Region Director for the International Mountain Bicycling Association and has worked on land conservation issues in Ohio for many years. He says dollars from the fund go to preserve and guarantee well-loved places in the state, including Cuyahoga Valley National Park.
"The crown jewel of conservation and land management is really national parks and Cuyahoga is a big one," he says. "But everywhere from rural areas that are building trail head infrastructure to ball fields to protecting farm lands from development so we have green space for the future."
The agreement is part of an energy bill now in the Senate. The Wilderness Society says if that bill gets bogged down, it hopes the measure can be attached to something moving fast enough to keep the program's funding from expiring.
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