[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 188 (Thursday, November 29, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7210-S7211]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                    Land and Water Conservation Fund

  Mr. GARDNER. Thank you, Madam President. I come to the floor today to 
talk about a very important conservation program--the Land and Water 
Conservation Fund. This is one of the crown jewels of our Nation's 
conservation effort. The preservation, protection, and conservation of 
our public lands is something we take great pride in in the western 
part of our country and, in fact, all four corners of our State, and 
this great country takes great pride in the Land and Water Conservation 
Fund and the efforts that it pursues to maintain our public lands, to 
show our public lands, to allow the exploration and use of our public 
lands for generations to come.
  The Land and Water Conservation Fund has had over 40,000 projects in 
its existence, billions of dollars in consumer spending driven by the 
outdoors--$2 billion in State and local tax revenue driven by our love 
of the outdoors. Hiking, hunting, fishing, skiing in the winter, 
rafting in the spring are all tied to the incredible conservation work 
we do in these incredible programs through the Land and Water 
Conservation Fund.
  Colorado's outdoor recreation activities have made it the 
destination, not just part of the year but all of the year, for people 
looking for adventure opportunities in our great outdoors. As I 
mentioned, we generate $28 billion in consumer spending just in the 
State of Colorado for our outdoors economy.
  The Land and Water Conservation Fund isn't just about preserving land 
because we want to conserve the land; it is about our economy--our 
recreation economy--and those $2 billion in State and local tax 
revenues generated by that. It employs over 200,000 people in an 
outdoors economy. The Land and Water Conservation Fund is a critical 
part of that. We have this economy because of our public lands--the 
extensive efforts we have undertaken to conserve them in a condition 
that the next generation will also get to enjoy.
  One of those tools, the Land and Water Conservation Fund has lapsed. 
It has been 60 days since the Land and Water Conservation Fund expired. 
Those who would permanently reauthorize the Land and Water Conservation 
Fund cleared the committees of jurisdiction in both the House and the 
Senate. The Land and Water Conservation Fund authorization of full 
funding has bipartisan support--Democrat and Republican support, House 
and Senate support. It is a program to sustain access to land that 
would otherwise be cut off--public land held and owned by the American 
people that we don't

[[Page S7211]]

have access to. We can't get to that land, even though we own the 
land--the American people own that land--because it is closed off. The 
Land and Water Conservation Fund allows us to get to that land, to 
recreate on that land, and to hunt on that land.
  In the days leading up to the Land and Water Conservation Fund 
expiration, a report was published by the Theodore Roosevelt 
Conservation Partnership. It published some figures on public land 
acreage that talked about the inaccessible number of acres in the 
American public land system. It identified over 9.5 million acres in 
the United States that was inaccessible to the public because of 
surrounding private land. In Colorado alone, there are over 250,000 
acres of public lands that are closed off to the public. That 
translates to just shy of 400 square miles of public land in Colorado. 
There are 400 square miles of public land in Colorado--almost the size 
of Rocky Mountain National Park--that can't be used to hike, hunt, and 
fish because we can't access it. We can't access it to explore, to 
hope, to think, to dream--all of those things our public lands 
represent. The Land and Water Conservation Fund can be used to help 
access that land, to find ways to utilize that land. The 400 square 
miles of property that the public owns can be utilized by the public 
through programs like the Land and Water Conservation Fund.
  I want to talk about this picture right here. This is the 
Superintendent of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park.
  The Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park had a Land and Water 
Conservation Fund-purchased acquisition. You can see it here on the rim 
of the canyon. This was at risk of being sold to a developer. The park 
is right here. This is the park. Imagine if this rim of the canyon had 
been developed what that would have meant. It would have prevented this 
national park from meeting the ideals and aspirations of what we 
believe it should be and what it means to be a national park. Imagine 
the 2,500 acres on the rim of this canyon inside the boundary of the 
national park being sold and what it could have done to this public 
land that surrounds it.
  The land acquired provides access to Gold Medal fly fishing on the 
Gunnison River, creates potential opportunities for the National Park 
Service to provide more family-friendly hiking near the visitor center, 
and serves as a potential source of water to the South Rim, which will 
reduce the operational costs of hauling water like they do now to meet 
visitor and staff needs. It is a win for all involved. You can see 
right there what it means.
  In the next picture, we have the Great Sand Dunes National Park. Near 
it is a 12,000-acre ranch, the Medano Zapata Ranch, which borders the 
Sand Dunes on three sides. It has been 60 days since the Land and Water 
Conservation Fund has expired, but this program, this chunk of land, 
this 12,000 acres was bought by the Nature Conservancy, one of our 
great conservation partners, and is going through the process to be 
incorporated into the park using LWCF dollars.
  This is an important purchase for our access to existing public 
lands--12,000 acres to our existing public lands. You can see the Great 
Sand Dunes in the background there. This preserves access to these 
public lands and keeps beautiful lands conserved for healthy wildlife 
habitat.
  Inholding purchases are not the only way the Land and Water 
Conservation Fund benefits the outdoors, however. The National Park 
Service, through the LWCF State and Local Assistance Program, provides 
matching grants for State and local park projects that aren't just 
inside national park boundaries.
  Just last week, three State parks in Colorado were awarded funding 
through the LWCF. Funds awarded to Crawford State Park will be used to 
complete a trail between the east and west sides of the park, including 
the construction of two prefabricated pedestrian bridges.
  Road improvements will be funded at Chatfield State Park, one of the 
most heavily used State parks in Colorado, to include resurfacing 
damaged asphalt, adding asphalt surface to a gravel access road, and 
adding bicycle lanes.
  Finally, funding awarded through the LWCF to Cherry Creek State Park 
will allow them to resurface one-third of a mile on the Parker Trail.
  The Land and Water Conservation Fund isn't just about the West. It is 
about the East as well. It is not just about our national forests or 
BLM land or national parks, local parks, bike trails, and playgrounds. 
It is about those little slices of heaven among the concrete and chaos 
of our urban corridors, as well.
  I urge my colleagues to come together to find ways to permanently 
authorize and fully fund the Land and Water Conservation Fund.
  Think about what our public lands mean to this country, and go back 
to the words of Enos Mills, who was one of the founding fathers of 
Rocky Mountain National Park, who said this: ``Within National Parks is 
room--glorious room--room in which to find ourselves, in which to think 
and hope, to dream and plan, to rest and resolve.
  These are our public lands. We have a chance to act before this 
Congress closes to reauthorize and to fully fund the Land and Water 
Conservation Fund. I am going to fight tooth and nail to make sure that 
we get that job done.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Sasse). The Senator from Ohio.