John,
I’m writing to ask you a favor.
Congress is considering a bill that would fully fund the Land and Water Conservation Fund every year from now on. We are working tirelessly to get the full-funding bill passed into law. This is the single most important source of conservation funding in the country — if you ask me, cheating the LWCF out of money it needs to fund whatever pet project strikes your fancy is a disgrace.
It seems that every day brings a new example of the effects of climate change. Altered growing seasons … habitat loss … the disappearance of glaciers ... super storms … raging wildfires … catastrophic flooding … our Climate-Smart Cities™ program is helping a number of American cities mitigate the effects of climate change, but there are so many more cities at risk and absolutely no time to lose.
There are approximately 2.6 million acres of privately and state-owned land in national parks across the country. For instance, Zion National Park has roughly 3,000 acres of private land within its boundaries. These properties impede trail access, wildfire management, views, water quality, and wildlife habitat … and they could be developed at any moment. We’ve purchased several of these inholdings and integrated them into the park, but we still have a long way to go.
For all these reasons and more, we’re looking to our members for help. We’re also looking to people such as you — people who care about our country’s public lands, who believe that every American has the right to experience the healing effects of nature, who understand that climate change is real and happening now — to stand up for what you believe in, to take action, to become a member of The Trust for Public Land.
At The Trust for Public Land, we are doing absolutely everything we can to protect and support America’s Public Lands. I trust that you are, too.
Sincerely,
Kim Elliot
Director of Membership
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