Wyoming Receives Funds for Outdoor Rec Projects

Wyoming will benefit from oil lease revenues earned from ocean exploration.

Last week, U.S. Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt announced over $170 million dollars in grants from the Land and Water Conservation Fund to all 50 States, five U.S. territories, and the District of Columbia for state-identified outdoor recreation and conservation projects.

LWCF funds are non-taxpayer dollars derived from Outer Continental Shelf lease revenues and are awarded through federal matching grants administered by the National Park Service.

National Park Service acting Deputy Director for Operations David Vela, who most recently served as the superintendent of Grand Teton National Park, pointed out that investing in high quality outdoor recreation space has proven to increase the public’s physical, cultural, and spiritual well-being.

Wyoming alone received over $1.5 million dollars from the LWCF fund – Montana received over $1.6 million.

The LWCF was established by Congress in 1964 to ensure public access to outdoor recreation resources for present and future generations. Since the inception of the LWCF, more than $4.4 billion has been made available to state and local governments to fund more than 43,000 projects throughout the nation.