Montana Trout Unlimited is advocating for dedicated, permanent, full funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF). This federal program has been critical for the protection of important cold-water habitat and for securing public access to our land and water in Montana and across the country. The LWCF, which uses revenues from offshore drilling to fund conservation and recreation projects on public lands, has been essential in developing more than three-quarters of Montana’s Fishing Access Sites (FAS). Montana currently has over 350 FAS locations that are used daily, by residents and visitors alike, for recreational access to our lakes and streams. These access points are an important part of Montana’s rich tradition of outdoor recreation.
We recently released this new interactive FAS Map, showing current and potential water access locations, to show the need for this important funding. A permanently fully-funded LWCF would help secure potential new access points and protect critical habitat. It could also be used to improve established FAS locations in need of better facilities.
Here is the link to the FAS Map on our website.
You can read more about the importance of a fully funded LWCF in these recent new stories: