[Philadelphia, PA] — America’s most successful conservation and recreation program is expected to expire this Sunday, September 30. The Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) has protected some of Pennsylvania’s most iconic places over the last 52 years.
“While it’s likely that few Pennsylvanians have heard of this program, every Pennsylvanian has enjoyed the places it’s protected,” stated Jessica Bellwoar, PennEnvironment’s Conservation Associate. “From Gettysburg to the Delaware Water Gap to Ohiopyle State Park, the Land and Water Conservation Fund has protected the places we love. Now we call on Congress to protect the Land and Water Conservation Fund.” The Land and Water Conservation Fund’s legacy has protected iconic places as well as local open spaces that often serve as the backbone to Pennsylvania’s communities (For a full list of LWCF projects funded in Pennsylvania, click here).
LWCF has helped fund the creation and maintenance of more than 1,500 projects in Pennsylvania, investing more than $315 million in the Commonwealth since 1964. But the nation’s preeminent conservation program could now be left on the cutting room floor if Congress does not approve legislation to permanently reauthorize the Land and Water Conservation Fund. If the federally-funded program expires, much-needed conservation projects across the nation will suffer from lack of funding, protection, maintenance, and future acquisition of public land for recreational use.
“Environmental groups, outdoor enthusiasts, fishing and hunting organizations, and local officials are calling on Congress to move swiftly to resuscitate this program in the upcoming weeks before finishing the congressional session.” said Bellwoar. “”It doesn’t matter if you’re a Democrat or Republican–Pennsylvanians from all walks of life, all political affiliations, and every corner of the Commonwealth can all agree: we all enjoy the outdoor places that make the state and nation great, and we want our elected officials to make sure that we can continue to protect them for our kids and grandkids to enjoy.”
Even in an era of hyperpolarization in politics, LWCF has always historically received strong bipartisan support. While there is broad bipartisan support on the Hill, as often happens in Congress legislators wait until the last possible moment to accomplish things. For example, just 2 weeks ago the U.S. House of Representatives’ Committee on Natural Resources moved forward legislation to reauthorize LWCF.
Pennsylvania’s top elected officials have pleaded with federal leaders in Congress to renew this cornerstone conservation program.
“Congress must act to save this important community development and conservation tool for states and local communities,” Governor Tom Wolf stated. “Our economy depends on strong and attractive communities for businesses and workers to move, stay, and grow. Congress needs to permanently reauthorize the Land and Water Conservation Fund without delay.”
“Pennsylvania’s outdoor recreation industry supports 251,000 jobs, generates $86 billion in wages, contributes $1.9 billion in revenue and produces $30 billion in consumer spending,” U.S. Senator Bob Casey said. “These recreation areas, as well as national parks, historic sites and trails, are economic drivers and allow Pennsylvanians to protect and preserve pieces of the state’s unique landscape. It is essential that Congress provides consistent and sufficient funding for the LWCF to ensure that these sites and others throughout the country can continue to be enjoyed by generations to come.”
The Land and Water Conservation Fund has funded over 40,000 projects across the United States since 1964 and allocates more than $900 million dollars annually to states. The money is collected from gas and oil royalties and no taxpayer dollars are used.
PennEnvironment will continue to work with our U.S. House and Senate members to get the Land and Water Conservation Fund permanently reauthorized as soon as possible so our parks stay beautiful.
Jessica Bellwoar collecting petitions in support of LWCF in Montgomery County in Neshaminy State Park (top). PennEnvironment Staff at Ohiopyle State Park, PA (bottom).
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PennEnvironment is a citizen-based, statewide environmental advocacy organization working to ensure clean air, clean water, and protecting Pennsylvania’s great natural heritage. For more information about this and other PennEnvironment projects, visit www.PennEnvironment.org.
Labor Day is a special weekend for families, and many Pennsylvanians will spend time outside visiting the state’s scenic landscapes and national parks.
What many Pennsylvanians may not realize is that many of these important natural heritages have been preserved through a program called the Land and Water Conservation Fund. They include places like Valley Forge, Gettysburg and the Flight 93 Memorial in Somerset County. Locally, it has helped fund more then $1.32 million in protection and maintenance of Settlers Cabin Regional Park, Brentwood Borough Community Park and North Shore Park.
Unfortunately, without congressional action this fall, LWCF will expire and put many of the greatest places here and across the country at risk. For decades, LWCF has protected the places we love and cherish. Now we must protect LWCF.
I hope concerned citizens will call and email Sens. Bob Casey and Pat Toomey and U.S. Rep. Conor Lamb and ask them to reauthorize LWCF this fall.
For more information contact: Jessica Bellwoar, PennEnvironment, (610) 308-0868
Philadelphia, PA — Today, PennEnvironment hosted a waterway clean-up event with members of the Philadelphia and Delaware County communities to demonstrate strong support for reducing the plastic pollution that is harming our wildlife and health. Specifically, the group called on the PA Legislatures to pass a statewide ban on single-use polystyrene.
Polystyrene — what many people refer to as ‘Styrofoam’ — is one of the worst forms of plastic pollution and is often used in cups and take-out food containers. Every day Americans use and throw away more than 70 million plastic cups. This comes to 8 billion Styrofoam cups – excluding take-out containers and silverware – that end up polluting American waterways and coastlines annually.
The massive accumulation of plastic is exemplified by the Philadelphia Water Department’s removal of more than 12 tonnes of trash from the Schuylkill and Delaware rivers in 2017 alone.
“We simply can’t continue to produce and throw away plastic at this rate,” said Jessica Bellwoar, Conservation Associate with PennEnvironment. “Nothing we use for five minutes should pollute the Delaware River forever. It’s time to put our wildlife over waste and we urge our elected officials to take action and lead the way on this issue.”
Once polystyrene enters our waterways, it is easily ingested by aquatic wildlife. Scientists have found plastic fragments in hundreds of species, including 86 percent of all sea turtle species and nearly half of all seabird and marine mammal species.
“A Styrofoam container might hold our take-out food for only a matter of minutes, but it can take hundreds or even a million years for it to decompose naturally and in the meantime it clogs our local waterways and poses a threat to birds and marine life,” said Rep. Tim Briggs, D-Montgomery. “I’ve introduced legislation that would reduce the amount of Styrofoam polluting our environment, and I’ll continue to support ways we can reduce our impact on the world around us.” There are already 25 cosponsors signed onto the ban polystyrene house bill.
“Across the country, polystyrene foam bans have passed in more than 200 cities and communities, and some companies have committed to phasing polystyrene out,” said Senator McGarrigle. “If they can do it, everyone can do it. I urge other elected officials to sign onto this legislation. We can’t outwait polystyrene. We have to act now.”
Plastics also pose risks to human health, attracting harmful chemicals including carcinogens, neurotoxins, and endocrine disruptors. Humans can ingest microplastics by eating contaminated seafood and by coming into contact with everyday plastic packaging. Much of the plastic waste in Philadelphia ends up on New Jersey and Delaware coast lines, where we fish commercially and consume seafood and fish contaminated with these microplastics.
John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge Manager, Lamar Gore, referenced a statistic from earthday.org that puts our plastic dilemma in perspective. “Approximately 25 million tonnes of plastic packaging produced annually flows into our oceans, which is the equivalent of pouring one garbage truck of plastic into the ocean every minute. How do we approach this? Individually or as organizations, we can make changes from single-use plastics to reusable products. At the refuge, we are taking another step, as our Watershed Fellow, Kristofer Booker, with the Alliance for Watershed Education launches our Caretakers of the Creek Program today. It starts from the community.”
“Every year for over 30 years, Darby Creek Valley Association (DCVA) members and friends remove bags upon bags of plastic from the Darby Creek. According to a report by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, there will be more plastic than fish in our ocean by 2050. Friends of Heinz Refuge and DCVA encourage everyone to take the plastic challenge and eliminate its use at home and support our legislators ‘ efforts to ban the most harmful of products.” said Jaclyn Rhoades, President of Friends of Heinz Refuge and Darby Creek Valley Association.
“Pennsylvanian constituencies are quite puzzled on why we haven’t taken stronger action to address plastic pollution. We want to see protections for our environment so future generations can grow up to enjoy our beautiful forests, lakes and streams.” said PennEnvironment’s Field Manager Mia Vega.
PennEnvironment has been knocking on doors in towns across the state to generate support for a statewide ban on polystyrene.
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PennEnvironment is a statewide, citizen-based grassroots environmental advocacy group, dedicated to protecting our air, water and open spaces. We investigate problems, craft solutions, educate the public and decision-makers, and help the public make their voices heard in local, state and national debates over the quality of our environment and our lives. For more information, visit www.PennEnvironment.org.
JESSICA BELLWOAR 