USFWS---Land & Water Conservation Fund---National Fish & Wildlife Foundation

2/1/2013

Hello,
Below are the definitions of two different Federal Programs designed to procure private property and take it out of production and off the tax roll----all in the name of Environmental Restoration. Rob T.

Land and Water Conservation Fund

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The United States' Land and Water Conservation Fund(LWCF) is a Federal program that was established by Act of Congress in 1964 to provide funds and matching grants to federal, state and local governments for the acquisition of land and water, and easements on land and water, for the benefit of all Americans.[1] The main emphases of the fund are recreation and the protection of national natural treasures in the forms of parks and protected forest and wildlife areas.

The LWCF has a broad-based coalition of support and oversight, including the National Parks Conservation Association, The Wilderness
Society, and the Land Trust Alliance.

The primary source of income to the fund is fees paid to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement by companies drilling offshore for oil and gas. Congress regularly
diverts most of the funds from this source to other purposes, however. Additional minor sources of income include the sale of surplus federal real
estate and taxes on motorboat fuel.[1]

Funds from the Land and Water Conservation Fund have been utilized over the years on projects both large and small. LWCF has helped state agencies
and local communities acquire nearly seven million acres (28,000 km²) of land and easements controlling further land, developed project sites including such
popular recreational areas as Harper's Ferry in West Virginia, California's Big Sur Coast, and the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem in Montana, helped maintain Yellowstone National Park, and helped to build and maintain "thousands of local playgrounds, soccer fields, and baseball diamonds."[2]

Though LWCF is authorized with a budget cap of $900 million annually, this cap has been met only twice during the program's nearly four decades of
existence.

The program is divided into two distinct funding pools: state grants and federal acquisition funds. The distribution formula takes into account population density and other factors.

On the federal side, each year, based on project demands from communities as well as input from the federal land management agencies, the President makes recommendations to Congress regarding funding for specific LWCF projects. In Congress, these projects go through an Appropriations Committee review process. Given the intense competition among projects, funding is generally only provided for those projects with universal support. Initially authorized for a twenty-five-year period, the LWCF has been extended for another twenty-five years, its current mandate running until January
2015.

National Fish and Wildlife Foundation

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) was created by the U.S. Congress in 1984 to protect and restore fish and wildlife and their
habitats. NFWF directs public dollars to critical environmental needs and matches those investments with private contributions. NFWF supports
science-based, results-oriented projects across the United States and the world.

NFWF provides grants on a competitive basis to protect imperiled species, promote healthy oceans and waterways, improve wildlife habitat, advance
sustainable fisheries and conserve water for wildlife and people. Birds, freshwater fish, marine and coastal ecosystems, wildlife and habitat are focal
areas. NFWF’s Congressional mandate is to connect government agencies, non-profit organizations, corporations and individuals to combine federal funds
with private donations for effective, results-oriented conservation projects. Since its establishment in 1984 through 2011, NFWF has awarded over 11,600
grants leveraging $576 million in federal funds into more than $2 billion for conservation.

As part of its Congressional charter, NFWF also serves as a neutral, third-party fiduciary to receive, manage and disburse funds that originate from
court orders, settlements of legal cases, regulatory permits, licenses, and restoration and mitigation plans. The funds are managed under NFWF’s
Impact-Directed Environmental Account (IDEA) program. NFWF works with federal agencies, regional, state, and local organizations, corporations and philanthropic institutions to apply these funds to conservation projects.

NFWF has no membership and does not advocate or litigate.

NFWF is a public charity under the IRS tax code and treated as a private corporation established under Federal law. Under the terms of its enabling legislation, NFWF is required to report its proceedings and activities annually to Congress.

Final Report to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation:

Profile of grantees. The Foundation has tended to make grants for land and easement acquisitions to larger, more established organizations with experienced staff who have the know-how to put together a grant proposal and complete an easement project. These organizations include: The Nature Conservancy, Trust for Public Land, Natural Resources Conservation Service, US Fish and Wildlife Service, and large regional land trusts. These major organizations received about two-thirds of the 73 grants for interests in land reviewed by the consultants under the General Applications program between 1986 and 2002.

Federal Private Lands Programs for Bird Conservation
Funding By Federal Programs Department
Agency Program FY 2002 Approp. M
MULTIPLE AGENCY
Land and Water Conservation Fund $450.0 (FY2001)

National Fish and Wildlife Foundation $ 17.1 (FY2001)

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