Department of Conservation and Recreation
Conserve. Protect. Enjoy.
Department of Conservation and Recreation
The Land and Water Conservation Fund Act of 1965 established a federal reimbursement program for the acquisition and/or development of public outdoor recreation areas. The Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) is administered in Virginia by the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) on behalf of the National Park Service (NPS). The program represents a federal, state and local partnership. A key feature of the program is that all LWCF assisted areas must be maintained and opened, in perpetuity, as public outdoor recreation areas. This requirement ensures their use for future generations.
Virginia has received more than $135 million in assistance since the LWCF began. It has made more than 430 projects possible within the Commonwealth.
The LWCF is a 50-50% matching reimbursement program. The grant recipient must be able to fund 100% of the project while seeking periodic reimbursements.
For further details about NPS LWCF program guidelines and project eligibility, please review the newly released version of the National Park Service LWCF Manual V2026 at https://www.nps.gov/subjects/lwcf/v2026.htm
**Version 72.1 is no longer effective as of May 1, 2026**
Please see Chapter 3 for project eligibility and Chapter 4 for proposal development and review requirements.
For specific regulatory requirements please refer to Federal Regulations: 2 C.F.R. § 200, 2 C.F.R. § 1402, 36 CFR 59.
The 2026 Land & Water Conservation Fund State & Local Assistance (LWCF) Virginia DCR Grant Round is open June 30 to August 27, 2026. There is $11 million available in Federal funding, as a 50/50% matching reimbursement grant program for eligible projects. The minimum request amount is $150,000 (total project cost of $300,000) to a maximum grant award amount of $2.5 million.
A virtual workshop for potential applicants was held, Tuesday, July 14.
Download the PowerPoint presentation.
Entities eligible to compete for LWCF funding
Please see the following documents and forms for the 2026 LWCF Grant Round. Please read the manual prior to completing your application, budget and maps. The application, budget and timeline documents are required to be turned in by the end of the Grant Round. All application materials for the 2026 LWCF Grant Round must be received by at 4 p.m. on Thursday, August 27, 2026, to email address recreationgrants@dcr.virginia.gov.
All projects must go through full NEPA and Section 106 review prior to submission to the National Park Service. NPS has the authority to approve compliance or ask for further information.
Please note that some projects will not be simple Categorical Exclusions. Also, projects may need further Virginia State Review Procedures and local review, as applicable, depending on project scope and design.
For all active LWCF Project Sponsors, please review the following guidance documents during administration of your project. There are example documents for drawdown procedures as well as templates to use. They can be downloaded below or contact us if you are not able to download them.
The Outdoor Recreation Legacy Partnership (ORLP) Program is a subprogram of LWCF and provides 50-50% matching reimbursement grants for the acquisition, development, and rehabilitation of parks in qualifying urban and tribal areas. Information on DCR preapplication processes for the national competition can be found at https://www.dcr.virginia.gov/recreational-planning/orlp.
The National Park Service has announced the Readiness and Recreation Initiative (RARI) national program opportunity. This NPS opportunity will be a rolling application program for the next 5 years. DCR will prepare documents for an open grant round tentative early winter 2026.
These grant funds have been available nationally through the federal National Park Service Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) combined with the Department of Defense (DOD) Readiness and Environmental Protection Integration (REPI) Program. This grant purpose protects the Nation’s military readiness, enhances relationships with communities, preserves the environment, and improves military installation and community resilience to climate change.
These projects are specifically for acquisitions within Virginia’s Potomac or Tidewater Sentinel Landscapes https://sentinellandscapes.org/ and must be coordinated with adjacent/nearby military installations.
Please also contact the Department of Forestry REPI office for further information and coordination. https://dof.virginia.gov/land-water-protection/farm-and-forestland-conservation/virginia-security-corridor/
All parks that have received funding from the LWCF State and Local Assistance Grant Program must maintain public outdoor recreation use in perpetuity. If your locality or agency is proposing or being presented with any non-outdoor recreation development or significant use changes on LWCF protected parks, please email RecreationGrants@DCR.Virginia.gov or mail information to:
DCR-Planning and Recreation Resources Division
600 East Main St. – 17th Fl.
Attn: Recreation Grants Team
Richmond, Virginia 23219-2094
Contact Recreation Grants Manager Kristal McKelvey at Kristal.mckelvey@dcr.virginia.gov or call 804-508-8896.
To be added to our Grants Announcement email list please provide contact and affiliation to RecreationGrants@dcr.virginia.gov.
