What is LWCF — and how can Tribes access it?

What is the Land and Water Conservation Fund?

The Land and Water Conservation Fund — commonly called LWCF — is one of the federal government's primary tools for funding conservation and outdoor recreation across the country. Created by Congress in 1964 and permanently funded in 2020, LWCF currently receives $900 million annually from offshore oil and gas royalties. Not a dollar of that comes from general tax revenue. Of the $900 million, at least 40 percent must be used for federal purposes and at least 40 percent for financial assistance to states; how the remaining funds are allocated each year flows from the federal budget process. (For more detail on how funds are allocated annually, see the Beyond LWCF section.)

LWCF funds ten distinct programs that together support both federal land acquisition and grants to states. These include major federal land acquisition programs (BLM, NPS, USFWS, USFS), the Stateside Formula grant program, and several specialized programs. Together, these programs fund everything from neighborhood park development to large-scale land acquisition for conservation. Tribal Governments can collaborate with federal agencies to support land acquisition projects, even where they are not direct grant applicants.

Tribal Governments have an interest in LWCF that is older than the program itself — the lands this fund supports conserving are, in many cases, traditional homelands. Tribal Governments were not at the table when the program was created in 1964, and the structure that emerged has historically made it difficult for Tribal Governments to access these resources directly. That structure is now beginning to change, and this Hub exists to help Tribal Governments navigate what's available today and what's coming.

Tribal Governments have an interest in LWCF that is older than the program itself — the lands this fund supports conserving are, in many cases, traditional homelands. Tribal Governments were not at the table when the program was created in 1964, and the structure that emerged has historically made it difficult for Tribal Governments to access these resources directly. That structure is now beginning to change, and this Hub exists to help Tribal Governments navigate what's available today and what's coming.

Tribal Governments and LWCF: A Changing Landscape

Recent legislative changes are opening pathways that did not exist before. The EXPLORE Act of December 2024 codified the Outdoor Recreation Legacy Partnership Program (ORLP) and expanded access for Indigenous communities, including federally recognized Tribes, Alaska Native corporations, and Native Hawaiian community organizations, regardless of population size. New Mexico became the first state to remove matching fund requirements for Tribal LWCF applicants. A proposed Bureau of Indian Affairs Tribal LWCF Land Acquisition Program would create direct access without state intermediaries. The landscape is shifting in ways that matter for Tribal Governments planning their conservation and recreation work.

That said, the historical picture provides important context. Between 1965 and 2019, the LWCF State and Local Assistance Program distributed approximately $4.5 billion in grants. Tribal Governments received roughly $4 million of that total — about 0.1 percent of all funding, and 0.2 percent of all grants awarded. Research conducted by Anthropological Research LLC for The Wilderness Society and NATHPO documented that Tribal staff interviewed for the study had significant interest in LWCF funding, but most had never heard of the program and none had direct experience applying for it. The barriers are structural, not aspirational.

The same research documented six structural barriers that explain the gap:

• The requirement that Tribal Governments apply through state governments rather than directly to the federal government, which many Tribal leaders describe as undermining the federal government-to-government relationship;
• Public access mandates that conflict with cultural privacy needs and treaty rights;
• A 50 percent non-federal matching requirement that most Tribal budgets cannot absorb;
  • Every federal dollar must be matched with a non-federal dollar — federal funds from other agencies generally cannot count toward match.
  • In-kind contributions can count in many cases: staff time, volunteer hours, donated materials, and the value of donated land or easements.
  • Specific match rules and what qualifies vary by state and by project; confirm with your state LWCF liaison before building a budget.
• Limited staff capacity to manage the application and reporting process;
• The inability to apply directly to the majority of LWCF programs; and
• Complex, often strained histories with state and federal agency partners.

This Hub exists to help Tribal Governments navigate the programs that are available, prepare for the ones that may open, and connect with technical assistance that reduces the burden of doing this work alone.

Funding pathways

LWCF flows into four major pathways. Each has different rules, eligible applicants, and administering agencies. The diagram orients; the eligibility table that follows provides program-by- program detail.

Which LWCF programs are available to Tribal Governments?

Of the ten programs funded by LWCF, Tribal Governments are listed as eligible applicants for three. Several others offer indirect pathways — as sub-recipients, supporting partners, or through government-to-government consultation. The table below summarizes the landscape.

This table reflects program eligibility as of 2026. The Readiness and Recreation Initiative (RARI), an additional NPS-administered LWCF program for military-adjacent communities, is not included given its limited applicability for most Tribal Governments.

The main pathway: State and Local Assistance

The Stateside Formula program has been the most active LWCF funding pathway for Tribal Governments to date. It supports both acquisition and development projects — purchasing land for outdoor recreation, or building facilities and infrastructure on existing land — as long as the funded area remains open to public access in perpetuity. The public access requirement has more nuance than the headline suggests; LWCF funds support a range of facilities including restrooms, sports field lighting, outdoor classrooms, and similar infrastructure, and there is a conversion process that allows grantees to adjust uses under defined circumstances. We address some of these nuances in the FAQ below.

Here's how it works in practice:

For information on matching fund requirements and alternatives, see the Matching Funds & Financing section. For help navigating the state liaison relationship, see the Application Tools section.

Indirect pathways worth knowing

Even for programs where Tribal Governments are not direct applicants, there are sometimes indirect pathways worth understanding:

What changed: the EXPLORE Act and ORLP

The bipartisan EXPLORE Act, signed into law in December 2024, included provisions that significantly expand Tribal access to one LWCF program: the Outdoor Recreation Legacy Partnership Program (ORLP).

What ORLP is: ORLP is a competitive grant program administered by NPS that focuses on outdoor recreation in economically disadvantaged communities. Unlike the Stateside Formula, ORLP allows Tribal Governments to apply as direct recipients.

What changed under the EXPLORE Act: Before the EXPLORE Act, ORLP eligibility was tied to population thresholds that excluded most Tribal communities. The EXPLORE Act permanently authorizes the Outdoor Recreation Legacy Partnership Program, a nationally competitive LWCF-funded grant program focused on parks and outdoor recreation in underserved urban communities. ORLP now explicitly includes Indigenous communities as eligible applicants alongside states and local governments, expanding opportunities for Tribes and other Native entities in urban areas once the program reopens. This is a meaningful structural change.

Key terminology

Frequently asked questions

The legislation behind LWCF

LWCF was established in 1965 and permanently reauthorized and fully funded through the Great American Outdoors Act in 2020. The EXPLORE Act (2024) opened ORLP eligibility directly to Tribal Governments.

Read the source documents

Where to go from here

If you're new to LWCF and trying to figure out where your Tribal Government stands, the first step is internal: check whether your government has a current recreation, tourism, or conservation strategic plan that has been formally adopted. If you do, that plan is your foundation. If you don't, considering the development of one — even a brief one — can strengthen future applications and clarify Tribal priorities.