"Amid Shutdown Battle, A Conservation Fund Seeks A Lifeline"

"As the cal­en­dar flips closer to Sept. 30, the talk on Cap­it­ol Hill is dom­in­ated by Planned Par­ent­hood and the loom­ing gov­ern­ment shut­down. But some fear that lost in the shuffle is an­oth­er, much smal­ler dead­line that could go un­ad­dressed.

The Land and Wa­ter Con­ser­va­tion Fund is a pop­u­lar, 50-year-old pro­gram that uses roy­al­ties from fed­er­al oil and gas leases for land ac­quis­i­tion and parks across the coun­try. It’s been re­spons­ible for pre­serving na­tion­al parks, his­tor­ic­al sites, and even the Ap­palachi­an Trail.

And its au­thor­iz­ing le­gis­la­tion ex­pires at the end of the month."

Jason Plautz reports for the National Journal September 24, 2015.