Earth Day inspires LWCF petition

Parks & Recreation, June, 2004

In an effort to bring more awareness of the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF), the Americans for Our Heritage and Recreation (AHR) launched a 20-week initiative to gather one million signatures between Earth Day and Labor Day. The petition can be accessed online at www.asap2004.org.

"We hope that over the summer months as Americans get outdoors that a strong message can be sent to the president and opinion leaders that we urgently need to spend the annual $900 million trust to fund our perks, trails, recreation centers, wildlife refuges and other open spaces," said Henry Diamond, chairman of AHR.

The LWCF is a 40-year-old federal grant program, which has created more than 40,000 parks nationwide, more than 7,000 soccer fields, 10,000 swimming and boating facilities, 20,000 family picnic locations, and 12,000 biking, horseback, riding, biking and exercise trails. This program sets aside about 20 percent of federal offshore oil drilling receipts, and uses the funds to protect America's outdoors.

For more information about LWCF, visit www.nps.gov/ncrc/programs/lwcf.>

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