Dear Speaker Pelosi, Leader McCarthy, Leader Schumer and Leader McConnell:

We write to express our strong objection to the Department of the Interior’s recent decision to unilaterally end the Outdoor Recreation Legacy Partnership (ORLP) program. On January 19, the Department of the Interior and National Park Service released an order declaring that the department would divert funding from urban parks, blatantly disregarding congressional intent of the program.

ORLP grants are an important subset of the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) that are designed to provide crucial funding to urban areas that lack local access to parks. In the short time the program has been in existence, it has funded nearly 50 projects that built or upgraded green spaces in underinvested communities. In fact, the program received a historic $125 million for this fiscal year in the FY2021 Omnibus and COVID Relief and Response Act (P.L. 116-260).

Now, more than ever, the public is turning to the outdoors for the necessary emotional, physical and mental reprieve as a way to cope with immeasurable stress that has resulted from the COVID-19 pandemic. However, over 82 million people across the country are unable to access a park within 10 minutes from their home, a crucial measure for positive health impacts.[1]  The quality and size of local parks also varies across communities. Research shows that parks in primarily non-white communities are half the size of parks in predominantly white communities, and five times more crowded.[2] ORLP was intended to directly address these social, economic and health inequities.

The Department of the Interior’s imprudent decision to unilaterally end the ORLP program directly contradicts the will of Congress and hurts vulnerable communities who most need green spaces.  In the final hours of the Trump administration, this secretarial order surreptitiously defies the will of elected officials who have funded this program at increasing amounts each year, and seriously disenfranchises urban communities across the country who were planning to apply for FY2021 ORLP grants.

We respectfully request that Congress permanently authorize the ORLP program to prevent such future regulatory manipulation like this from happening again. We are also urging the incoming Biden administration to immediately overturn this decision and restore the ORLP program to its original intent. Our collective goal is that all people have access to green spaces, especially in underinvested communities. Restoring and reinvesting in the ORLP program will allow the federal government to show its commitment to the goal of supporting and achieving equity in the outdoors. We look forward to working with Congress on this important issue.

Sincerely,