Changes to popular conservation program draws criticism from local conservation groups

By Jeniffer Solis

Nevada Current

The Department of the Interior announced plans Thursday to reshape a popular conservation program that uses offshore oil royalties to support conservation projects, including narrowing the ways those funds can be spent.

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum issued an order guiding the allocation of more than $430 million from the Land and Water Conservation Fund to projects that would “benefit wildlife habitat, improve water quality and provide flood protection while creating new recreational opportunities.”

“The Land and Water Conservation Fund continues to deliver on its promise to connect Americans to the outdoors while protecting the landscapes that make our nation special,” said Burgum in a statement.

But local conservation groups say the changes threaten to undermine the bipartisan Great American Outdoors Act (GAOA) that President Donald Trump signed into law in 2020, which contributes hundreds of millions of dollars to the development and rehabilitation of parks, conservation areas and outdoor recreation facilities across the nation.

Conservation groups said language in the order restricts the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) from using the fund to acquire additional land that could be used to expand recreation and conservation.

Those restrictions could effectively prevent the expansion of National Monuments, National Conservation Areas, Wild and Scenic Rivers, and National Scenic and Historic Trails administered by the BLM.

“Nevada is approximately 86 percent public land, of which 67 percent is managed by the Bureau of Land Management. If you have enjoyed some form of outdoor recreation in Nevada, there is a good chance it was on BLM managed land. If you have camped, hiked, OHV’ed or hunted in Nevada, it was likely in or near a National Conservation Area or National Monument,” said Russell Kuhlman, executive director of the Nevada Wildlife Federation.

The order would also allow states to use the conservation fund to buy federal property, including protected federal conservation land. Those changes could open the door to land transfers that shift public land to private ownership, said the Nevada Conservation League.

“Nevadans overwhelmingly support protecting these places, and we cannot afford to roll back decades of progress in opening and protecting access to the great outdoors,” said Kristee Watson, Executive Director of the Nevada Conservation League.

The Land and Water Conservation Fund has pumped more than $175 million into acquiring and improving public land at Red Rock Canyon and Lake Tahoe, according to the Nevada Conservation League.

The order also “increased bureaucratic red tape” by requiring both state governors and local county officials to approve land acquisitions purchased using the fund, said the Nevada Wildlife Federation.

Local conservation groups warned the restrictions could prevent new investments in the outdoor recreation economy and halt pending land deals and projects.

In 2023, Nevada’s outdoor recreation industry accounted for $8.1 billion in value-added (GDP) annually, ranking the state 10th in the nation, according to the Nevada Division of Outdoor Recreation.

The Department of the Interior did, however, back away from earlier plans to include language that would siphon money away from conservation land purchases to pay for maintenance projects on federal property.

“Fortunately,” the order does not include one of the administration’s worst ideas, leaving out its prior proposal to divert LWCF funding for unauthorized purposes,” said Amy Lindholm, a spokesperson for the Land and Water Conservation Fund Coalition.

Lindholm continued, “Unfortunately, Secretarial Order 3442 still does real damage. It hinders critical conservation and public access by reviving previously rejected ideas.”

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Jeniffer Solis was born and raised in Las Vegas, Nevada where she attended the University of Nevada, Las Vegas before graduating in 2017 with a B.A in Journalism and Media Studies.