Governor Chris Sununu has joined bipartisan calls for Congress to permanently fund a key federal land and water conservation program.
The decades-old Land and Water Conservation Fund, or LWCF, has provided nearly $40 million in grants for hundreds of New Hampshire's state parks, heritage sites and other outdoor preservation projects.
Senators Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan led a bill last year that got the program permanently authorized. But its funding still requires annual approval.
In a letter to House leadership, Sununu says that funding is crucial to his state. He says the LWCF should "be fully removed from the political theatrics of the continuous Washington appropriation fight."
Several Democratic presidential candidates also list permanent funding for the conservation program in their environmental platforms.
