“Permanent re-authorization of the Land and Water Conservation Fund will help countless African American communities across the country connect to nature,” Outdoor Afro CEI Rue Mapp said in an email “Yes, LWCF protects the places we see on paintings and postcards. But it also protects the places we teach our kids to ride bikes and play baseball. LWCF has for decades helped expand access and equity for outdoor recreation opportunities. The Outdoor Afro community celebrates its long overdue permanence.”

S. 47 collected almost 120 measures across more than 600 pages. It included about 1 million acres of new wilderness, expansion of three national parks, revocation of mineral mining rights on 340,000 acres of federal land (including the Yellowstone provision), and new accounting of legal fees paid to organizations successfully suing the government through the Equal Access to Justice Act.

Dingell noted the Land and Water Conservation Fund had provided $3.9 billion dollars for more than 40,000 projects since it started in 1965. Every dollar invested returned $4 in economic value, Dingell said.