Letter to the editor: Thank you for conservation, Sens. Pat Roberts and Roy Blunt

Senators’ help

For more than 50 years, the National Parks Service’s Land and Water Conservation Fund, or LWCF, has been a critical tool for preserving our country’s natural wonders. We want to thank U.S. Sens. Pat Roberts of Kansas and Roy Blunt of Missouri, who have co-sponsored legislation to fully and permanently fund the LWCF.

The LWCF has provided funding to help protect some our region’s most special places, from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Flint Hills Legacy Conservation Area and Marais des Cygnes National Wildlife Refuge in Kansas to Mark Twain National Forest and Ozark National Scenic Riverways in Missouri.

The bipartisan legislation Roberts and Blunt are co-sponsoring would ensure the LWCF receives the full $900 million authorized each year from federal offshore oil and gas revenues to conserve important landscapes for future generations.

Fully funding the LWCF not only would be good for protecting Kansas’ and Missouri’s natural spaces, but it also would boost our economy, create jobs and increase tourism, all at no cost to the taxpayer.

Sens. Roberts and Blunt deserve credit for working to make full funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund a reality.

- Rob Manes, state director, The Nature Conservancy in Kansas, Topeka,

- Adam McLane, state director, The Nature Conservancy in Missouri, St. Louis