Off the central coast of Oregon, about two and a half hours southwest of Portland, lies the Yaquina Head Outstanding Natural Area. Purchased by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in 1983, this over 50-acre stretch of land lends itself to the state of Oregon as a popular recreational area.

But natural areas like Yaquina Head haven’t always been protected. As with all conservation initiatives, preservation requires one critical element: funding.

For almost 60 years, the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) has issued billions to the Federal Land Management Agencies (FLMAs) to acquire thousands of acres of public land and natural areas like Yaquina Head. Along with the Bureau of Land Management, the Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Park Service, and the USDA Forest Service are also among the agencies Congress designates to receive funding from the LWCF.

However, unlike many government initiatives, Yaquina Head Outstanding Natural Area was not paid for by the American taxpayers. In fact, taxpayers don’t contribute anything to the LWCF. The LWCF is primarily paid for by royalties from gas and oil companies for leases on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) in the Gulf of Mexico. Gas and oil giants like Shell, Chevron, Hess, and the infamous British Petroleum are among those leasing the offshore territory.

With these royalties, the FLMAs use the LWCF to purchase federal, state, and local land and water or put it towards public recreation development projects. This includes national parks, recreational areas, local playgrounds, springs, and countless other development purposes.

ln Yaquina Bay, this meant that the land purchased by the BLM in 1983 became an area where visitors could see the tallest lighthouse in Oregon (built in 1871), tens of thousands of local seabirds, and maybe even catch the occasional gray whale passing through. Now, the Yaquina Bay Lighthouse, a focal point of the Yaquina Bay Outstanding Natural Area, is even registered on the National Register of Historic Places.

Yet, despite what the LWCF achieved at Yaquina Bay and beyond, from its inception, the LWCF never received consistent funding. From the time the original LWCF Act was passed in 1965, until the passing of the Great American Outdoors Act in 2020, the LWCF struggled to secure and properly apportion funding for the FLMAs.

Fluctuations in funding ranged from 335 million in the year Yaquina Bay was purchased to a record almost 1 billion dollars in 2001, exceeding the 900 million dollar accrual cap.

Not only were the total funds accrued inconsistent, but the allocation of the funds among land acquisition endeavors and state and local grant awards also varied. To mitigate the issues that surrounded inconsistent financing among the departments of the FLMAs, the Great American Outdoors Act was born.

In August 2020, President Trump signed the Great American Outdoors Act (GAOA), permanently allocating 900 million dollars annually to the LWCF.

The permanent reinstatement of these funds ensured that both primary goals of the LWCF Act of 1965 were met. The first: to acquire new public lands for recreational activities, and the second: to provide grants to state and local governments for the protection, development, and conservation of public lands.

The 900 million dollar permanent commitment to preservation and conservation also serves as an economic investment for the US—employing 7.6 million Americans with jobs and contributing to over 887 billion dollars of the US economy.

In addition to long-term support for public land acquisition and conservation grants, the Great American Outdoors Act even claims that an additional 1.9 billion dollars will be allocated annually until 2025 to renovate and improve the state of current national parks. Backlogged projects from inconsistent funding over the years made it difficult for many national parks to make critical infrastructure updates.

Now, 3 years after the Great American Outdoors Act was signed, people are curious to know how much has changed since then.

For starters, The National Park Service website lists at least 30 different projects planned and funded with the GAOA’s 9.5-billion-dollar catch-up fund already. With a little over 2 years and about 3.8 billion dollars left, it seems like national parks are finally receiving much-needed upgrades. Some recently revealed projects include replacing old water pipes at Acadia National Park, upgrading water and wastewater systems at Great Basin National Park, and preserving historic bathhouses in Hot Springs National Park.

In the last 3 years, according to the Department of the Interior’s LWCF Allocation documents, an average of 32% of the 900-million-dollar fund was set aside for land acquisition, while another 44% was defined for conservation grants. This was divided among 3 of the 4 FLMAs, with the remaining 218 million allocated to the USDA Forest Service, funding additional conservation and land acquisition projects.

Despite the years it took to solidify the LWCF’s funding, since 1964, the LWCF has contributed to significant growth endeavors across the US. Yaquina Bay Outstanding Natural Area is one of many successful projects initiated by the Bureau of Land Management and its fellow FLMAs. Yaquina Bay now serves as a popular recreation area on the coast of central Oregon, where local communities and visitors from all over the country have a place to learn about native wildlife, local history, and simply enjoy the outdoors.

In a time where the fate of America’s wilderness is under scrutiny, with the LWCA and collaboration between the FLMAs, preserved land and recreational areas like the Yaquina Head Outstanding Natural Area will be accessible for Americans for decades to come. ※