More than 15,000 tracts of land held by private owners are peppered through the national park system, including famous parks like Texas’ Big Bend and Yosemite in California, according to a report by the Trust for Public Land.
The report released Thursday urges Congress to protect a bipartisan fund that can be used to buy private property but that the Trump administration has eyed for other purposes.
The Land and Water Conservation Fund uses revenues from offshore oil and gas development to purchase property that can be added to public lands managed by federal agencies like the Bureau of Land Management and National Park Service, as well as providing state recreation grants. But the Trump administration has weighed diverting those dollars to the massive public lands’ maintenance backlog.
“Within or immediately adjacent to many of our most iconic parks and national forests, privately held parcels coexist, underscoring an unfinished legacy,” said Carrie Besnette Hauser, TPL’s president and CEO, in a statement. “The real test and opportunity are ensuring that when willing landowners are ready to sell these properties, tools like the Land and Water Conservation Fund are available to seamlessly connect these thriving landscapes to surrounding communities and outdoor recreationalists.”
