Guest column by Charles Fryling: Urge Congress to reauthorize important law

For 50 years now, a little known law has been protecting public lands and waters while providing much-needed space for outdoor recreation in America.
The Land and Water Conservation Fund was passed by Congress in 1964. While many people may not have heard of the law, they are in fact familiar with what it has done.
In St. Mary Parish, state and local government has joined with local partners to utilize the Land and Water Conservation Fund in creation of parks, playgrounds, and recreation centers.
The Morgan City Recreation Complex, Bayou Vista Community Center, Franklin Park, and Kemper Williams Playground were all created with the help of the fund, along with public boat ramps at Berwick, Burns Point and Quintana Canal.
We can also thank the fund for Cypremont Point State Park, one of the only public access spots for the Gulf of Mexico between Grand Isle and Cameron.
The fund also played a key role in the creation of the Atchafalaya and Bayou Teche National Wildlife Refuges. Taken together, these federal and state projects provide crucial public areas for the outdoor recreation that makes Louisiana famous: hunting and fishing, hiking, birding, paddling, and general enjoyment of our lakes, shores and swamps. They also point to the future opportunities that the fund can deliver on, such as carrying out the Master Plan for the Atchafalaya National Heritage Area.
The Land and Water Conservation Fund was unique in designating revenues from offshore oil production as its key source of revenue. Despite having this alternative source of funding (rather than tax dollars), and a spending cap of $900 million a year, the fund still has to go through the annual budget appropriation process in Congress, where many of its dollars are routinely directed to other purposes. This year, the U.S. House has proposed giving the fund $250 million dollars out its possible total allocation.
2015 is special for another reason: the Land and Water Conservation Fund is up for reauthorization in Congress. A quick look at what the fund has done for St. Mary Parish and the Atchafalaya Basin should be enough to justify continuing this landmark law. A look at the basin’s ongoing need for projects that can aid not only conservation but flood control and coastal resilience only strengthens the case.
Please let our congressional representatives know that the Land and Water Conservation Fund is important for Louisiana.
Charles Fryling Jr. is president of Friends of the Atchafalaya.