The nation’s 575 federally recognized tribes can now participate in a conservation grant program through the National Park Service. And a new digital tool is designed to help them navigate the bureaucracy.
The Land and Water Conservation Fund has been around since 1964.
President John F. Kennedy is credited for coming up with this idea to protect natural and cultural resources while guaranteeing recreational access to all Americans. Then, the bipartisan Great American Outdoors Act — signed by President Donald Trump in 2020 — made it permanently funded.
“It receives about $900 million each year from offshore oil and gas royalties — not taxpayer dollars — to support conservation and outdoor recreation nationwide,” said Starlyn Rose Miller, who is from the Little Shell Chippewa Tribe of Montana. “And yet, I had never heard of the program.”
She’s senior director of Native Lands Partnership at the nonprofit Wilderness Society, which launched the online hub. The Outdoor Recreation Legacy Partnership program recently expanded eligibility to tribes. Native Hawaiian and urban Indian organizations are also able to apply.
“Tribal governments are so busy,” added Miller. “We thought if we could put a hub up — designed in partnership with Indigenous-led orgs, agencies, nonprofits — that it could be helpful.”
More than 56 million acres — nearly 3% of the U.S. landmass — belong to tribes. The Land and Water Conservation Fund has aided more than 47,000 projects, like parks and trails, in nearly every county nationwide.
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