On April 18, 2016, Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell signed the 2016 Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) Certificate of Apportionment distributing $94.9 million to the States, Territories and Washington, DC, for grants for public outdoor recreation projects. The allocation for each State and Territory is determined based on a formula set in the LWCF Act, and is subsequently approved by the Secretary of the Interior. See the links below for State-by-State distribution.
Since the inception of the program in 1965, annual appropriations from the Fund for recreation grants have ranged from a high of $369 million in 1979 to four years of zero funding from 1996 to 1999. The State and Local Assistance Program experienced significant increases in Congressional appropriations during the 2000-2002 fiscal years, peaking at $140 million in FY 2002 before declining again. Since FY 2010, appropriations have hovered around $40 million.
Starting in FY 2009, the LWCF regular appropriations have been supplemented by revenues from certain oil and gas leases in the Gulf of Mexico. Section 105 of the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act (GOMESA) designates 12.5 percent of the proceeds from leases in Areas 181, 181 South and the 2002-2007 planning areas to be dispensed to the States in accordance with Section 6 of the LWCF Act. The amount distributed in 2009 was $8.1 million, but subsequently has dropped to approximately $100 thousand in 2013 and is expected to remain low for the next several years. These funds remain available until expended as opposed to the 3-year time frame for regular LWCF apportionments.
Last updated: April 24, 2019