On February 10th, 2022 the Appalachian Mountain Club hosted, alongside the Coalition for the Delaware River Watershed and the LWCF Coalition, a webinar explaining the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) and how to take advantage of its recent full funding.
You can click on the links below to view the slide deck and webinar recording at your leisure!
Slide Deck – click here to view
Webinar Recording – click here to view
There is unprecedented opportunity, given that after many years of advocacy the Land and Water Conservation Fund will not only have full funding but consistently full funding, for partners to think big and increase the pace of conservation in urban, suburban, and rural areas. But there is also unprecedented need, with a football field’s worth of natural area lost to development every 30 seconds in the US. And there are unprecedented challenges in scaling up a very decentralized program like LWCF, one that relies on community partners coming together to solve complex land-use problems, often with limited expertise and resources to understand the many different tools in the LWCF toolbox, how to write grant applications that are different in every state, where to find match funds, etc. This webinar is one of many efforts by the LWCF Coalition and local conservation leaders to help fill these gaps. The Coalition for the Delaware River Watershed will take the lead in describing the history of successful advocacy and conservation within the watershed, while state and NGO partners will discuss how LWCF funds can be maximized and leveraged by looking across geographic and programmatic boundaries.
A summary of the topics covered in the webinar as well as the panelists who presented:
- Introduction: Kelly Knutson, Coalition for the DE River Watershed
- History of conservation in the watershed and CDRW’s advocacy
- History of the Land and Water Conservation Fund: Amy Lindholm, Appalachian Mountain Club
- What full permanent funding means under the Great American Outdoors Act
- LWCF investments in the Mid-Atlantic: project examples to show how partners can utilize these funding tools to realize conservation goals
- Federal Public Lands and Forest Legacy Program: Kyle Shenk, TCF (Cherry Valley National Wildlife Refuge, FLP project in process adjacent to Northeast Connection)
- Highlands Conservation Act: NJ Highlands Council (TBD)
- ORLP: Sarah Bryant, Camden Community Partnership (Sadler’s Poynt Waterfront Park)
- How different states in the watershed administer their LWCF stateside grant programs: their approach, their challenges, and how NGO partners can help fill critical gaps
- Ashley Rebert, Chief, Land Conservation and Stewardship and Alex Tatanish, DCNR Bureau of Recreation and Conservation
- Courtney Wald-Wittkop, New Jersey Green Acres Program, LWCF Coordinator, NJ Department of Environmental Protection
