The Land and Water Conservation Fund is a visionary program established by Congress to preserve, develop and assure accessibility to quality outdoor recreation resources for active participation in recreation and “to strengthen the health and vitality of the citizens of the United States.”
Illinois has received $151,866,417 for 833 projects to assist state and local park and recreation facilities over the past 40 years.
In Illinois, the state has identified an unmet need for state LWCF dollars of $6,677,512, which is a gap of 68% from what the state will receive out of the 2005 LWCF dollars. Source: National Park Service –State Assistance Program 2005 Annual Report as reported by each applicable State.
Zeroing out the stateside Land and Water Conservation Fund this year will create an even bigger gap for Illinois in the years to come.
Center for Disease Control reports are showing Illinois citizens are above average in physical inactivity rates. Illinois ranked 22nd in the U.S. in highest rate of adult obesity at 22.9 percent, according to F as in Fat: How Obesity Policies are Failing in America, 2005. It ranked 24th in the U.S. in highest rate of obese and overweight adults combined at 59.9 percent.
Support for the stateside of LWCF will help provide safe accessible places for Illinois residents to become more activity and start on a path of reversing the downward health trends. LWCF is a proven program with broad support and plays a valuable role in strengthening community public health.
The chart below illustrates that the nation is headed up in bad health trends, and down in providing LWCF resources that can assist our state and local communities in providing public places for our citizens to become more active.
For further information about the State-side Land and Water Conservation Fund please contact: Richard Dolesh, Director of Public Policy for NRPA at 202-887-0290, Rdolesh@nrpa.org.