Funding for conservation projects ends up in many different places, from trail maintenance to habitat restoration. For example, it can be used for:

• Managing national parks
• Conducting research on climate change in wildlife refuges
• Buying new land that can be protected as public land by the Bureau of Land Management
• Keeping visitor centers opened and maintained

Making sure the federal budget provides adequate funding for this kind of work is key to keeping wilderness protected.

Why conservation funding

Conservation work requires significant funding. Unfortunately, Congress constantly targets funds dedicated to conservation. We work to ensure lawmakers set aside adequate resources to keep public lands healthy and accessible.

Federal funding priorities

Each year members of Congress and the president make budgetary decisions about how federal tax dollars and fees are distributed for land and water conservation. Conservation funds are part of the president’s budget as well as legislative priorities managed by Congress.

• Administrative priorities
• Legislative priorities

Our conservation funding priorities

Certain funding priorities help ensure the protection of future wilderness areas. These include the federal ‘green budget’ and funding for land and water conservation.

• Green budget
• Land and water conservation fund

Conservation funding FAQs

Have more questions about conservation funding? Our conservation FAQs can help.