08/04/2026
Six years ago, on August 4, 2020, the Great American Outdoors Act (GAOA) was signed into law. It requires that Congress fully fund the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) at the long-authorized but seldom-reached level of $900 million each year. Before its passage, there was no guarantee of appropriation, and only twice in over fifty years had Congress fully allocated the funding.
Interestingly, the Land and Water Conservation Act, which set up the fund, was signed into law on the same day as the Wilderness Act, September 3, 1964. This relatively unknown fund has played a significant role in the recreational resources and conservation projects that we enjoy today, including the Appalachian Trail. The LWCF has an interesting history.
The LWCF has provided critical funding to protect the Appalachian Trail corridor. Following the passage of the National Trails System Act in 1968, over $250 million has been distributed to purchase tracts and rights-of-way important to the integrity of the A.T. When the National Trails System Act was passed, nearly half of the A.T. crossed private or otherwise unprotected land. Today, we can enjoy the entire A.T. without any possibility of coming upon a “No Trespassing” sign, thanks in large part to LWCF funds.
Georgia has received nearly $385 million since 1965 for nearly 1,200 qualifying projects, with nearly $100 million in matching funds for state and community projects. The fund has been instrumental in preserving many of the areas we enjoy or that provide sanctuary for wildlife today, like the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area, Chattooga Wild and Scenic River, Cumberland Island National Seashore, Bond Swamp National Wildlife Refuge near Macon, and Sansavilla Wildlife Management Area along the Altamaha River in south Georgia. As of 2022, the Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forest has received over $16.5 million in LWCF funding for recreation and conservation purposes.
These efforts weren't funded by our tax dollars but largely by federal revenue from offshore petroleum leases. As our nation and the world tackle the effects of climate change and our reliance on petroleum-based energy systems shifts, if the recreational resources we enjoy today are to remain available and improved for future generations, we will need to be very creative and forward-thinking to identify a revenue source that would equal the impact that the Land and Water Conservation Fund, and assured by the Great American Outdoor Act, has had.
Data source: Trust for Public Lands
