Department of Conservation and Recreation
Conserve. Protect. Enjoy.
Department of Conservation and Recreation
The Outdoor Recreation Legacy Partnership (ORLP) Program provides 50-50% matching reimbursement grants for the acquisition, development, and rehabilitation of parks in qualifying urban and tribal areas. ORLP is a subprogram of the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) State and Local Assistance Program, administered by the National Park Service (NPS).
Unlike LWCF state formula grants, ORLP is a national competition with up to $120 million available annually. For the 2026-2031 five-year grant cycle, awards will range from $300,000 to $15 million.
All funded projects must be maintained and kept open as public outdoor recreation areas in perpetuity. Sponsors must be able to fund 100% of project costs while seeking periodic reimbursements.
A defining feature of the ORLP program is its requirement that projects be located within a qualifying area, defined as:
Note that geographic boundaries of these urban areas are often different (and larger) than the named cities themselves. A map of all Census‑designated Urban Areas is available through the U.S. Census TIGERWeb platform, and population tables for all designated urban areas can be found on the U.S. Census Urban and Rural webpage.
Any project eligible for the ORLP Program is also eligible for the Virginia LWCF State and Local Assistance Program. Although this may change in future funding cycles, the Virginia LWCF Program has historically not received application volumes that significantly exceed available funding. Because a project that is competitive for ORLP would also be competitive for LWCF, sponsors often choose to pursue LWCF rather than ORLP.
For projects that fully align with ORLP goals, circumstances that may justify submitting an ORLP application instead of an LWCF application include:
ORLP applications are due to the National Park Service by November 1 of each year. DCR will solicit preapplications from interested subrecipients each year in advance of this deadline.
The 2026 ORLP grant round is open, and DCR is accepting preapplications from July 14 - Sept. 10, 2026.
Preapplications are due via email to recreationgrants@dcr.virginia.gov by 4 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 10, 2026.
Webinars
The Virginia ORLP program was discussed from minutes 49:00-60:00 during the 2026 LWCF State and Local Assistance Program virtual application workshop.
The Trust for Public Land is hosting a series of webinars on the ORLP program and providing technical assistance on preparing competitive applications. Project sponsors are strongly encouraged to attend or view these webinar recordings prior to preparing a preapplication. Registration and recording links are available here.
Projects requesting $2.5 million or less are encouraged to apply to the Virginia LWCF State and Local Assistance Program grant round, which is accepting preapplications until Aug. 27, 2026.
The 2027 preapplication period is anticipated to be held in summer 2027.
Contact Recreation Grants Coordinator Kellie Seaton at recreationgrants@dcr.virginia.gov or call 804-786-1119.
