We celebrate our nation's rich legacy of public lands and the natural resources that depend on those lands - including the amazing fishing and other outdoor recreation opportunities that our public lands support. National TU is preparing a series of blog posts about the major agencies responsible for managing our federal public lands - the US Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, and US Fish and Wildlife Service. You can read the first post - featuring the story behind the Forest Service- here.

One of our nation's most successful programs investing in public lands and outdoor recreation is the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF). We celebrated earlier this year as Congress passed and the President signed legislation permanently authorizing this program, which has invested hundreds of millions of dollars into Colorado's great outdoors from our iconic national parks to community trails and parks in our own backyards.

LWCF doesn't depend on your tax dollars but rather is funded by a portion of revenues from offshore drilling royalties. Unfortunately, these funds are anything but secure and are regularly raided by Congress for other purposes during annual appropriations. Now, Congress is considering legislation to secure those dedicated funds on a permanent basis so that LWCF can continue to support public lands and outdoor recreation for generations to come.

You can help by asking your Representative to support this important legislation. Please take a moment this Public Lands Month to speak up for continued investment in our public lands!