Kristine Stratton, president and CEO of the National Recreation and Park Association (NRPA) issued the following statement in response to the Department of the Interior’s recent order regarding the Land and Water Conservation Fund:

“For over 50 years, the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) has remained a bipartisan conservation success story. NRPA is disappointed with the Department of the Interior’s recent attempt to disrupt the bipartisan nature of the program. The recently issued LWCF Secretarial Order includes provisions that Members of Congress from both parties have previously rejected. NRPA is deeply concerned with provisions of the order that lay out funding priorities for the state and local assistance fund of LWCF instead of allowing states to set the priorities for those funds. We believe that state and local governments uniquely know the outdoor recreation needs in their communities and it is there that these decisions should be made. Secretary Bernhardt’s order creates funding constraints that will result in an unnecessary burden for local governments. NRPA urges the Department of the Interior to immediately rescind this misguided order and implement the Great American Outdoors Act in a bipartisan fashion as was intended by Congress and the millions of individuals who advocated for it.”