NORTHAMPTON — The Appalachian Mountain Club and other conservation groups gathered in the parking lot at the Connecticut River Greenway Park Friday morning to celebrate the passage of the Great American Outdoors Act and U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern’s role in passing it.
The legislation, which was signed into law on Aug. 4, permanently funds the Land and Water Conservation Fund with about $900 million annually, as well as targeting billions in funding to address a backlog of maintenance projects at national parks.
Created in 1964, the Land and Water Conservation Fund “invests earnings from offshore oil and gas leasing” and puts the money toward conservation, according to the National Park Service website. The fund gives grants to state and local governments, and is used by federal agencies to acquire land and do conservation work. More than $233 million from the fund has flowed into Massachusetts over the last 55 years, according to the AMC.
McGovern co-sponsored the recent legislation. But when he started in the House in 1996, “I really didn’t know what the Land and Water Conservation Fund was,” he said Friday morning, until the AMC reached out to him. Without such conservation groups, he said, “I would never have become active on this issue.”
Last year, the fund was made permanent, McGovern said, an important step. “The authorization is wonderful, but appropriation is even more wonderful — because it’s real money.”
Leaders in conservation groups applauded the passage of the legislation.
It’s “monumental,” said Heather Clish, senior director of conservation and recreation policy at the AMC.
“To get the House, Senate and president to agree on anything is tricky,” said Amy Lindholm, coalition manager for the Land and Water Conservation Fund and northeast regional coordinator at the AMC.
Many sites around the city benefited from the Land and Water Conservation Fund, said Mayor David Narkewicz, who was at the event with his puppy, Scout. He pointed to the Fitzgerald Lake, Mustante Beach, Veterans’ Memorial Park, and the rail trail connecting Leeds to Haydenville as examples.
Greta Jochem can be reached at gjochem@gazettenet.com.