Coalition of Outdoor Businesses Applauds House Passage of the Great American Outdoors Act, Calls on the President to Move Quickly to Sign the Bill

WASHINGTON, DC — Moments ago, the US House of Representatives passed the Great American Outdoors Act. The legislation will finally fully fund the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF), the most important source of federal funding to conserve our land and water and to create and develop parks, trails, boat launches, and other recreation areas that enrich our communities.

Brady Robinson, Executive Director of The Conservation Alliance, an alliance of outdoor and associated businesses who have long advocated for the LWCF, issued the following in response:

“Our business members – from big outdoor brands to craft breweries to local retailers – have been working to support full funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) for more than a decade. We applaud the House of Representatives for passing this historic legislation for conservation and outdoor recreation.

“In these times of polarization, this bipartisan victory proves conservation is an issue that unites us. This legislation will go a long way towards protecting wild places, ensuring that access to nature and outdoor recreation is equitable for all Americans, and bringing us closer to the global conservation goal of protecting 30 percent of nature by 2030. As our nation is losing a football field of natural areas every thirty seconds, we hope this is one step in a line of bold conservation actions to chart us on the right course for the future.”

Under the Great American Outdoors Act, LWCF will receive $900 million annually by way of offshore oil and gas revenues — not taxpayer dollars. Since the program was signed into law in 1965, it has funded more than 42,000 national, state and local park projects in every county and state in the nation. The bill also addresses the nation’s backlog of maintenance needs on our federal public lands.

The Conservation Alliance is a coalition of 250 businesses that come together to fund and partner with grassroots conservation organizations to protect North America’s  wild places for their habitat and recreation values. The Conservation Alliance was founded in 1989 by outdoor industry leaders REI, Patagonia, The North Face, and Kelty around a shared commitment to lending the support of business to conservation efforts.. For more information, visit www.conservationalliance.com.