This story was originally published by HuffPost and is reproduced here through the Climate Desk partnership.
Public lands activists and a handful of lawmakers have long pushed for full, permanent funding of the Land and Water Conservation Fund, a federal program established in 1964 that uses offshore oil and gas revenues to establish and protect parks, wildlife refuges, forests and wildlife habitat.
But anti-federal-land conservatives, appalled at the thought of more money being used to expand and improve the federal estate, have always stood in the way. The program has been funded at the full $900 million allowed by law only twice in its history.
Now two vulnerable Republicans are among those championing a bipartisan conservation bill that would permanently and fully fund the LWCF, as well as allocate $9.5 billion to address the mounting maintenance backlog at America’s national parks. Sens. Steve Daines, R-Mont., and Cory Gardner, R-Colo., co-sponsors of the bill, are claiming credit for the win after the bill advanced by an 80-17 vote this week. A vote on final passage is expected early next week.
“We are on the cusp of passing the most historic conservation legislation in 50 years,” Daines said during a Tuesday news conference on Capitol Hill. “And isn’t it ironic that it will take public lands to bring a divided government and a divided nation together.”
In March, Daines and Gardner announced they had secured an about-face from President Donald Trump, a longtime foe of the LWCF who has worked to weaken safeguards for nearly 35 million federal acres. The Trump administration’s budget proposal for 2020 called for all but eliminating funding for the LWCF, from $156 million down to just $7.6 million.
During a meeting at the White House in February, Gardner told Trump that passing a public lands bill would be the biggest conservation win since President Theodore Roosevelt established national parks, refuges and forests across the country in the early 1900s, The New York Times reported this week. Invoking Roosevelt was apparently all it took to get the president to change his stance. Trump’s Interior Department has said it is creating “a conservation stewardship legacy second only to Teddy Roosevelt;” a bold claim that simply does not match reality.
Trump has not been shy about who he thinks should get credit for this moment.
“I am calling on Congress to send me a Bill that fully and permanently funds the LWCF and restores our National Parks,” Trump wrote in a March post to Twitter. “When I sign it into law, it will be HISTORIC for our beautiful public lands. ALL thanks to @SenCoryGardner and @SteveDaines, two GREAT Conservative Leaders!”
It’s a message he and his team are sure to push between now and November.
As someone who grew up in Rifle Colorado, thank you @SenCoryGardner for your leadership and unwavering support of our public lands and national parks! pic.twitter.com/vLJWPfzP2H — Secretary David Bernhardt (@SecBernhardt) June 9, 2020
Both Daines and Gardner are relatively new to the fight to protect the LWCF, and neither have particularly notable environmental records ― earning lifetime scores from the League of Conservation Voters of 6% and 11%, respectively.
Gardner, while a member of the House of Representatives in 2011, voted in favor of an amendment to an appropriations bill that would have drastically cut the LWCF’s already low funding. In 2015, Daines voted against reauthorizing the program. And in June 2018, hours after participating in a press conference calling for full and permanent LWCF funding, they both voted in favor of a spending cuts package that, among other things, would have slashed $16 million in LWCF funds from the U.S. Forest Service.
Environmentalists and public lands advocates have applauded the two lawmakers’ recent work on the LWCF and embraced the opportunity to secure permanent program funding, but it’s hard not to see Trump’s newfound support as little more than a gift to two Senate allies facing tough bids for reelection. Daines is facing Montana’s Democratic governor and former 2020 presidential candidate Steve Bullock, and Gardner is likely to square off against former Colorado governor and 2020 presidential contender John Hickenlooper. Roll Call named Gardner the most vulnerable Republican senator in 2020.
“It is a desperate attempt to convince their constituents that they aren’t working on behalf of corporations and that they care about what the American people care about,” said Jayson O’Neill, director of public lands watchdog group Western Values Project.
The oil and gas sector has been a top-five contributing industry to both Daines and Gardner over their careers, according to Center for Responsive Politics data.
Chris D’Angelo is a reporter for HuffPost, based in Washington, D.C. Email High Country News at editor@hcn.org or submit a letter to the editor.
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