The Trump Administration’s recently released budget request for fiscal year 2026 proposes a reversal of the Great American Outdoors Act by gutting the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF), which is the country’s major source of funding for conservation and recreation projects across the country, according to the LWCF Coalition. The budget proposes redirecting around $387 million from the LWCF’s federal land acquisition budget to fund deferred maintenance, including repairs to trails, visitor centers, and infrastructure, contradicting the GAOA, which established a separate funding stream for deferred maintenance.
“By proposing to divert dedicated non-taxpayer funds from LWCF, counter to the law that President Trump signed in 2020, this budget would put a stake in the heart of a program that has enjoyed bipartisan support for 60 years,” said Amy Lindholm, director of federal affairs and conservation funding at the Appalachian Mountain Club and a spokesperson for the LWCF Coalition. “Robbing funds dedicated for sportsmen’s and other recreational access to pay for non-LWCF maintenance responsibilities would break the promise to the American people. This would fly in the face of Congress’s overwhelming bipartisan mandate, damage the outdoor recreation economy and communities across the country, and undo the president’s conservation legacy by returning to the days of diverted funds for non-LWCF purposes. It would be a monumental mistake and we hope that the president will reverse this proposal immediately.”
For 55 years, tens of billions in LWCF funding were diverted away from protecting public lands, but thanks to enactment of the Great American Outdoors Act in 2020, LWCF, which has its own dedicated funding source and does not use taxpayer dollars, was guaranteed permanent funding of $900 million annually. The Great American Outdoors Act was supported by massive bipartisan margins in congress, and cutting LWCF funding is unpopular both with the public and in Congress.
The LWCF Coalition is urging Congress to utilize its authority provided by the Great American Outdoors Act to restore the full, guaranteed $900 million to LWCF’s 10 subprograms and the full complement of land protection and conservation easement projects that benefit states and districts across the nation.
If adopted, the administration’s proposal would:
- Cut annual LWCF priority projects at National Parks, National Wildlife Refuges, National Forests and other public lands.
- Block hunting and fishing access across the country—permanently restricting or losing access to countless places.
- Cut funding for National Parks to protect land inside their boundaries and improve visitor experience by reducing crowding.
- Devastate the $1.2 trillion outdoor recreation economy that supports 5 million jobs and has outsized impact in rural gateway communities.
- Halt forest protection at National Forests, compromising efforts to consolidate management and fire prevention, limiting recreation access, and allowing luxury home construction in National Forests that make fighting fires harder.
- Decimate wildlife habitat, migration corridors, and landscape connectivity.
- Eliminate future access for hiking, biking, boating, horseback riding, ATV/OHV riding, and other outdoor recreation activities that rely on our public lands.