Land & Water Conservation Fund Grants

Overview

The Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) Grant Program is a federal program authorized in 1965 by Congress for the purpose of acquiring federal lands and assisting states and local governments with funds for land and outdoor recreation facilities. LWCF funds are appropriated by Congress to the US Department of the Interior, National Park Service (NPS). NPS allocates the funds through state agencies as a grant program to state and local governments. Grantees must match the grant award dollar for dollar.

The LWCF Program has resulted in Georgia receiving over $125 million in matching grant funds. The program was reauthorized and received permanent funding in fiscal years 2019 and 2020 respectively. With the permanent funding, it is anticipated that Georgia will receive about $8 million annually.

In order to efficiently administer the grant funds, LWCF operates on a bi-annual grant cycle. With two years of allocations to award, an estimate of $18 million will be available to local governments during the 2026-2027 grant cycle.

Take The Georgia Outdoor Recreation Survey Today!

Information gathered through this survey will be used to update the Statewide Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan (SCORP).

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LWCF Outdoor Recreation Open Forum

September 23, 2026 at 1:00 PM (EST)

Georgia LWCF Open Forum | Join Meeting in Teams | Microsoft Teams

The Georgia Department of Natural Resources’ LWCF team is pleased to announce an open forum dedicated to hearing Georgis’s publics’ opinion on outdoor recreation in the state. The Land & Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) is authorized to be administered in Georgia through the Statewide Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan (SCORP). SCORP takes inventory of Georgia’s recreation and conserved lands & key needs and demands from Georgia citizens. Those key demands and needs were analyzed into the Georgia 2022-2026

SCORP Pillars:

Conserve Natural Resources
Economic Vitality
Health Through Fitness and Livability
Accessibility and Inclusion

Information gathered during the forum will be used to update the 2022-2026 SCORP. Please come prepared with one to two minutes of information. Although this forum will not be focused on problem solving, the LWCF team looks forward to hearing from you!

2026-2027 Funding Opportunity

The Georgia Department of Natural Resources (Georgia DNR) is pleased to announce the 2026-2027 funding cycle for the Land and Water Conservation Fund Grant Program.

The LWCF grant program will soon be accepting pre-applications for acquisition of land, development or renovation of outdoor recreation facilities. Eligible applicants are defined as qualified local governments and constituted recreation authorities/commissions who are in good standing with LWCF. The pre-application will be completed online. Following the competitive pre-application, selected applicants will be invited to complete a formal application for National Park Service.

The 2026 LWCF Pre-Application is Now Open! Access LWCF Pre-Application here.

Key Points

LWCF requires 50% match for all grant requests.
Minimum grant request amount is $25,000 and maximum grant request amount is $750,000.
Only one application can be submitted per applicant.
Applicants may submit pre-applications for both LWCF and Georgia Outdoor Stewardship Program, but applications must be for separate projects.

Funding Cycle Dates