The Land and Water Conservation Fund, which provides funding to national, state and local parks and recreation areas, has expired.

For the first time in its 50-year history, the Land and Water Conservation Fund has expired. Faced with a September 30 deadline to renew the fund, lawmakers failed to reauthorize the LWCF.

The LWCF, which was signed into law in 1965, sets aside a portion of proceeds from offshore gas and oil drilling for land conservation. The spaces conserved include national, state and local parks and recreation areas, amongst others. No taxpayer money is used for the fund.

According to the Tennessee ASLA October newsletter, the LWCF is the third most accessed program by landscape architects, who use the program to plan and design local community parks and recreation areas.

The LWCF is divided into two programs. The State Assistance Program provides matching funds to states and local communities to protect parks and recreation; the Federal Land Protection Program conserves nearly five million acres of public lands, including national parks, forests, and wildlife refuges.

Although the program has expired, Congress can still appropriate money for it in annual spending bills. Additionally, there are currently two bipartisan Senate bills and one bipartisan House bill that, if passed, would reauthorize the Land and Water Conservation Fund. S. 338 and H.R. 1814 would both permanently reauthorize the LWCF, and direct a small amount of funding to opening up additional access to public lands for recreational users. S. 890 would permanently reauthorize the LWCF and provide full, dedicated and permanent funding, with the goal of preventing LWCF money from being siphoned off for other purposes.

The NRPA and ASLA, among others, are encouraging members to contact their representatives through both email and Twitter about the importance of renewing the LWCF. NRPA recommends including a photo of a park funded by the LWCF. Use #LWCF and #SaveLWCF, and tag your representatives in any tweets.

The ASLA is "confident that the congressional bipartisan support and continued outreach from the grassroots community will help capitalize on upcoming opportunities to renew LWCF," according to an Advocacy email. ASLA is working with coalition partners to push for reauthorization and full funding of the Land and Water Conservation Fund.