LWCF Invests in Green Infrastructure — The Land and Water Conservation Fund

When we think of green infrastructure, a conservation program like the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) may not be the first thing that comes to mind. However, LWCF has been investing in our nation’s green infrastructure for over a half century through protecting and filtering drinking water, reducing disaster risk, increasing coastal resiliency, providing flood mitigation, and supporting carbon sequestration. In every county in all 50 states and in U.S. territories, our national, state, and local parks, forests, wildlife areas, and other public lands are a critical network of green infrastructure that need continued investment in order to protect nearby communities from the effects of our changing climate.

LWCF is the federal government’s primary tool for protecting our public lands and waters, guaranteeing that this nature-based infrastructure continues to grow and benefit the American people. Established 55 years ago, LWCF enjoys strong bipartisan support as it meets both land conservation and community infrastructure needs in our incomparable system of parks and public lands. The American Society of Civil Engineers has called for full, dedicated funding for the program, explicitly noting that LWCF is critical to improving America’s infrastructure.

Freshwater: Filtration, Storage, and Drinking Water Protection

Land and water conservation through LWCF protects and enhances community water supplies, often reducing or eliminating the need for costly built infrastructure. Protecting drinking water through forest and watershed conservation frequently comes at a far lower cost than traditional, man-made filtration and treatment systems. At the same time, the EPA estimates that engineered solutions may provide only a fraction of the services provided by highly functioning natural systems. According to the U.S. Forest Service, 180 million people in over 68,000 communities -- more than half the American population -- rely on forested lands to capture and filter their drinking water.

The Forest Legacy Program, a matching grant program administered by the USFS with the federal contributions funded by LWCF, has completed projects in 49 of 50 states, frequently conserving and enhancing community water supplies that would otherwise require costlier and less effective filtration and treatment. LWCF funding on national wildlife refuges, scenic rivers, parks, and other public lands has helped safeguard aquifers, springs, lakes, streams, and other important watershed elements across America. Below are examples of LWCF freshwater protection:

Sterling Forest

The protection of the 15,000-acre Sterling Forest in New York utilized $17.5 million from LWCF, matched by roughly twice that amount from state and private sources, to ensure clean drinking water for over 2 million residents of northern New Jersey. After the completion of the project, a study found that forest protection in the Highlands region (PA, NY, NJ, and CT) will save $50 billion in future water treatment costs. At the time of the acquisition, local municipalities in New Jersey were facing needed construction of a $160 million water treatment plant; however, the clean water protected by Sterling Forest made this unnecessary. A New York City report that compared water purification on forest lands versus treatment plants concluded that every $1.5 billion invested in land conservation in the Catskills provided the same water quality as $8 billion spent on treatment plants.

Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area

The Chattahoochee River provides 70% of metro Atlanta’s drinking water, to about 4.4 million people. In 1978, the Chattahoochee River NRA was established to provide water-based recreation opportunities for the millions of citizens in the greater Atlanta area and protect their water resources. As the pace of urban development increased pressure on remaining open lands, local communities worked with NPS to design a linear park south of Lake Lanier to the City of Columbus, providing critical water protection for millions of area residents at the same time it affords recreation access. LWCF has protected thousands of acres along the Chattahoochee, resulting in permanent protection of 50 miles of river frontage to date.

Lake Mead National Recreation Area (NV)

Located 24 miles from the Las Vegas Strip, Lake Mead is the largest manmade reservoir in the country and was created by the Hoover Dam along the Colorado River, supplying water to Arizona, California and Nevada. Lake Mead has received nearly $5 million from LWCF, protecting this desert oasis and the first ever designated National Recreation Area. In the Las Vegas Valley, over 2 million residents and 40 million annual visitors depend on the water stored in Lake Mead. Water is drawn from the reservoir, used in the city, cleaned, and then flows back to Lake Mead through the Clark County Wetlands. Protection of this resource for all states in the Colorado River Basin compact is critical for the survival of the people who live in this arid climate.

*Photo Credit: Andrew Cattoir, National Park Service*

Flood Mitigation and Coastal Resiliency

Public protection of watersheds, wetlands, and working forests has proven to be a cost-effective measure for disaster protection, specifically against flooding. According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, floods are the most common and widespread of natural disasters, next to fires, and one acre of wetland can store about three-acre feet of water (or one million gallons). Strategic conservation of coastal and riverine wetlands protects homes during floods and hurricanes, while also containing runoff and stormwater that would otherwise inundate communities and cause property damage. Similarly, public conservation of barrier islands, oyster reefs, floodplains, and other ecosystem features provide natural flood protection often at a far lower cost than seawalls, levees, and other flood control structures. EPA analysis shows that, floods now cause an average of $8 billion in damage every year in the U.S. The most efficient way to avoid excessive future costs is to increase the flexibility of ecosystems now so that they may function and retain resiliency under a wider range of climatic conditions. Below are examples of LWCF projects that provide flood protection and coastal resiliency:

Cape May National Wildlife Refuge

The state of New Jersey, the Army Corps of Engineers, and The Nature Conservancy have worked together to restore the Cape May National Wildlife Refuge wetlands, which now includes engineered structures, as well as natural features like marshes, dunes and wetlands. Funded by $23.95 million from LWCF, the wetland restoration serves as critical green infrastructure by absorbing and slowing down flood and storm waters. In a 2016 study, The Nature Conservancy, in partnership with a risk modeler for the insurance industry and others, showed that marsh wetlands in the area saved over $650 million in property damages during Hurricane Sandy and reduced annual property losses by nearly 20% in Ocean County, New Jersey. Wetland areas are an aspect of green infrastructure that can survive large scale hurricanes, while protecting local communities.

ACE Basin National Wildlife Refuge

The Ernest F. Hollings ACE Basin National Wildlife Refuge helps protect the largest undeveloped estuary along the Atlantic Coast, with rich bottomland hardwoods and fresh and saltwater marsh offering food and cover to a variety of wildlife. This wetland ecosystem provides storm surge protection, water storage, and other benefits to a region that is experiencing increased severe storms and development pressure. Over 270,000 people live along rivers around the refuge and within floodplain regions vulnerable to storm events. Man-made infrastructure like major state highways and interstate freeways also run along rivers or transverse floodplains and are at risk of flooding, especially when high river flows are exacerbated by heavy rain events or storm surge from hurricanes. The wetlands and other natural infrastructure of the refuge provide protection from costly storm damage.

Carbon Sequestration

Carbon sequestration through land conservation is an essential element in any practical strategy to address climate change. LWCF funding has protected countless forests, parks, wetlands, and other public lands that sequester millions of tons of carbon. Wetlands are extremely efficient at drawing in carbon, transferring massive amounts of greenhouse gases through wetland plants into the rich soils below. A study by The Nature Conservancy found that stored carbon can remain in the soil for thousands of years, making wetlands a long-term climate mitigation solution. According to the USFS, U.S. forests currently serve as a carbon 'sink', offsetting approximately 10 to 20% of total U.S. emissions each year. Below are examples of LWCF projects that provide exemplary carbon sequestration:

San Bernardino National Forest

The San Bernardino National Forest encompasses the wild lands of the San Bernardino and San Jacinto mountain ranges in Riverside and San Bernardino counties. The forest sequesters a significant amount of carbon every year, in both live and dead biomass and forest soils. The San Bernardino National Forest stores about 9.9 Million Metric Tons (MMT) of forest carbon equating to over 36.27 Million Metric Tons (MMT) of CO2 equivalent, or the equivalent emissions of driving around the Earth more than 3.5 million times. The shrublands on the San Bernardino National Forest, like chaparral, store about an additional 2.1 MMT of carbon. In addition to sequestering carbon, about 341,000 acre-feet or 111 billion gallons of water per year come from the San Bernardino National Forest. There has been $22.6 million in LWCF investment in the forest protecting water resources, sequestering carbon, mitigating drought, and reducing the risk of wildfires.

*Photo Credit: Tania Parra, Forest Service*

Mobile Tensaw Delta

The Mobile-Tensaw Delta Wetland Conservation Area, located within Baldwin and Mobile Counties, contributes to the conservation of Alabama's largest and most ecologically significant wetland ecosystem. It is over 45 miles long and contains 400 square miles of wetland and other habitats including pine savannas, bottomland hardwoods, and maritime forests. The Delta plays a vital role in maintaining the area’s natural balance by filtering impurities from up to approximately 15% of the nation’s fresh water, while also acting as crucial ground storage of atmospheric carbon. Through the Forest Legacy Program, LWCF has invested over $6 million in the wetland, protecting the critical functions it provides to mitigate climate change by capturing and storing carbon. Wetland protection through LWCF, like in the Tensaw Delta, is one of best ways to offset million of tons of carbon emissions.