Some of my earliest childhood memories involve being outside, rock climbing, canoeing or hiking with my family. Tied into a rope held by my father, I remember climbing the Chimneys in the wilderness of Linville Gorge, N.C. I remember multi-day canoe trips on Buffalo National River in Arkansas, fishing, swimming and sitting around a campfire. And I remember hiking through Joyce Kilmer Forest with my younger brother, awe-struck and inspired by the towering old-growth trees.
These memories are shaped as much by what was absent in that place as what was there: In the outdoors, man-made noise, bustle, electric light, television and stress melted away.
Zachary Lesch-HuieSince then, I have built a career around protecting and improving access to this sort of outdoor experience. At the Access Fund, a national nonprofit dedicated to conservation of the climbing environment, I work with local climbing organizations, public land managers and private landowners to protect access to climbing areas. Our work is climbing focused, but it’s also bigger than that. It’s also about preserving an outdoor experience – a unique outdoor experience that brings renewal and inspiration to our lives.
That is why the reauthorization of the Land and Water Conservation Fund is so crucial – so that we all have places we can go to reconnect with what matters. Unfortunately, the clock is ticking. The law that established the fund, which acquires and protects public wilderness land, is set to expire in a few days. It is well past time for Congress to act.
At issue are the thousands of acres of privately owned land within or surrounding national forests, parks and monuments. These holdings remain in private hands, for private use and, potentially, for private development like second homes, vacation condos or even subdivisions. Tennessee has received more than $189 million from conservation fund LWCF over the past five decades, preserving nationally significant places like Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, Great Smoky Mountains National Park and Cherokee National Forest.