National LWCF Atlas
Preamble
The protection provisions of the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund Act (LWCF)
ensure that parks and conservation sites assisted with these funds will provide benefits in
perpetuity - a conservation and recreation legacy of the Stateside LWCF Program. Those
investments have far reaching positive impacts nationwide, today and for generations to
come. A national LWCF Atlas created by National Association of State Outdoor Recreation
Liaison Officers and our partners endeavors to reference every LWCF land acquisition and
outdoor recreation facility - approximately 39,500 total project locations - that are
protected under Section 6(f)(3) of LWCF Act.
Whereas, The National Association of Outdoor Recreation Liaison Officers (NASORLO)
supports the creation of a geospatial inventory of all LWCF sites in every state, county, city
and town in the United States and Territories;
Whereas, Information on LWCF sites is retained by every state, territory and National Park
Service, though no single spatially-referenced electronic database reflects the history of
investments or provides a sweeping view of these public resources;
Whereas, Geographic Information System (GIS) technology provides the tools to organize
data, historical and current, associated with LWCF projects, and visually demonstrate the
locations of LWCF investments since the Program’s inception in 1965;
Whereas, Geographic Information System (GIS) technology is an exceptional tool to track,
manage, analyze and evaluate investments that best meet public outdoor recreation needs;
Whereas, A geospatial Atlas will result in the following: streamlined and revolutionized
tracking and management of every investment to ensure lands remain protected in
perpetuity as required by the LWCF Act; improved stewardship and in perpetuity
requirements; permit visualization of LWCF investments; improve NASORLO’s and our
partner's advocacy through mapped LWCF investment site; foster the ability to easily
query the data based on a multitude of spatial possibilities for reports, analysis, and
displays; evaluate fulfillment and health-related models that inform program impacts;
evaluation tool to inform and improve future investment strategies that most meet outdoor
recreation, children in nature and health-related goals and objectives; and become a
national registry for LWCF projects with a public user friendly interface to locate outdoor
recreational opportunities;
Whereas, Nasorlo with its partners, GreenInfo Network and the US Geological Survey,
created a proof of concept and presented it as a demonstration Atlas to the NASORLO
membership at its Annual Meeting in September 2013;
Whereas, Nearly half of the states are represented in the Atlas in September 2015 California, Delaware, Washington, Texas, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Kansas, Tennessee,
Mississippi, Iowa, North Dakota, Nevada, North Carolina, Maine, New York, Indiana, Utah,
Minnesota, Massachusetts, Virginia, Louisiana, Michigan, and Missouri;
Whereas, States are in various stages of creating GIS data to insert in the Atlas, while
others continue to be paper dependent; and
Whereas, NASORLO seeks and support avenues that will create a national LWCF Atlas that
will serve multiple purposes, including but not limited to: a comprehensive repository
memorializing nationwide LWCF investments; clearinghouse supporting perpetual
stewardship of LWCF sites; public distribution platform of recreation sites promoting
healthy lifestyle choices; an exchange representing close to home tourism assets; baseline
information for advocacy and constituency building; and comparative analyses related to
the delivery of public parks and outdoor recreation facilities.
Therefore, NASORLO, will reach out to the highest levels in the Department of Interior, to
obtain a commitment to finalize a national LWCF Atlas with both grant-related data
retained by NPS, and financial assistance to complete creation and development of the
LWCF Atlas.