May 24, 2011

The Honorable Jim Costa

1314 Longworth HOB
United States House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515

Dear Representative Costa:

We, the undersigned, would like to thank you for your recent commitment to
support robust and consistent funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund
(LWCF) by adding your signature to the bipartisan letter to the Interior and
Environment Appropriations Subcommittee. This important step towards preserving
a critical program that brings immense benefits to your constituents demonstrates
your true leadership and foresight on this important matter.

The Land and Water Conservation Fund has been an invaluable resource to the
Central Valley by helping our communities protect our lands, water supplies,
recreational spots, public spaces, and wildlife habitats. In the last four decades,
LWCF funding has contributed the necessary resources to invest in numerous
noteworthy community, recreational, and wildland projects, such as Al Radka Park
and Oso de Oro Park, both of which contain innovative features designed
specifically with persons with disabilities in mind, as well as Woodward Park, the
only regional park of its size in the entire Central Valley.

LWCF funds have also helped protect many of the Central Valley’s most unique and
diverse wildlands and natural habitats, and are an important component of the
administration’s America’s Great Outdoors (AGO) initiative. The LWCF and AGO
will directly benefit our local resources including the San Joaquin National Wildlife
Refuge, one of California’s largest riparian forest restoration projects; and the
Grassland Wildlife Management Area, the largest remaining block of wetlands in the
Central Valley, just to name a few.

Land and Water Conservation Fund investments are also essential to the Central
Valley’s economy. In addition to preserving and maintaining priority public lands,
water sources and parks, LWCF funds are also responsible for creating and
maintaining much-needed jobs, as well as sustaining important sources of local and
regional revenue through tourism and recreational activity.

These benefits are not only felt here in your district, but all across the state, where
annual LWCF investments nurture a robust outdoor and recreational industry that
contributes an estimated $46 billion to California’s economy, generates $3.1 billion in
annual state tax revenues, and produces $28.1 billion in retail sales and services, while
at the same time supporting more than 400,000 jobs statewide.
We appreciate your commitment to preserving all that makes the Central Valley a
wonderful place to live, learn and grow. By ensuring this important federal program
is adequately funded to meet the needs of our shared conservation priorities, your
support will make a difference for generations to come.

Thank you,

Dave Koehler Matt Wilkes

Executive Director Executive Director
San Joaquin River Parkway and Fresno Audubon Society
Conservation Trust

John Wilkins
Julie Rentner John Wilkins
San Joaquin Regional Director Disability Advocate
River Partners

Richard P. Yanes, J.D. Sabina Gonzalez

Executive Director Fresno County Chair
Fresno Metro Ministry Communities for a New California