The Land and Water Conservation Fund expired at the end of September when Congress failed to reauthorize the program.

Created by Congress in 1965, the Land and Water Conservation Fund used royalties from offshore oil and gas drilling operations to fund acquisition and development of parks and other public lands. Projects that had been identified in advance for next year would have filled in gaps along the Pacific Crest Trail, secured conservation easements for 165 acres of historic farmland at the Ebey’s Landing National Historical Reserve on Whidbey Island, and protected working forests by establishing conservation easements near Mount St. Helens.

It’s never been a controversial program. The fund has won reauthorization every time it has come before Congress. And it was on track to do the same this year, when, prior to the program’s expiration, U.S. Sens. Maria Cantwell, D-Washington, and Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, moved a bipartisan reauthorization bill through the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee to extend it permanently.

But U.S. Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, has vowed not to allow the Senate bill to move out of his committee — he won’t even allow hearings on the legislation — and instead has offered his own bill that would fundamentally change the intent of the fund and put an end to much of its work in securing public lands for recreation and conservation and preserving working forests and farms.

Bishop’s bill would extend the fund for just seven years; and it would restrict funding for federal acquisitions, such as that for national parks and national recreation areas, to just 3.5 percent of the fund, making it unlikely that enough funding would be available for almost any project. Additionally, Bishop’s bill would restrict property acquisitions west of the 100th meridian, which roughly splits the country in half, to just 15 percent of what funding it would allow. Instead, Bishop’s bill seeks to divert money to promote offshore oil and gas exploration and streamline permits for oil companies.

Would Bishop suggest, rather than taking the family to a national park, vacationing at an offshore oil rig?

According to Rep. Derek Kilmer, the LWCF has invested nearly $600 million in more than 600 projects in Washington since it was first proposed by Sen. Henry M. “Scoop” Jackson some 50 years ago. It’s helped protect forestland in Kitsap County. And it’s done that with no cost to you.

Cantwell and Murkowski’s bill provides a fair and equal distribution between federal and state land projects. Leaders in the Senate and House should allow votes on that legislation.