Proposals being accepted for Outdoor Recreation Legacy Partnership Program

The Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation is accepting proposals for submission to the National Park Service Outdoor Recreation Legacy Partnership Program.

The ORLP, part of the Land and Water Conservation Fund, provides matching grants to fund outdoor recreation projects in underserved urban areas.

The ORLP is a 50-50 percent matching reimbursement program. The minimum grant award is $300,000 with a minimum total project cost of $600,000. The maximum grant award is $5 million.

Nationwide, approximately $150 million in matching funds are available through this competition among the states and territories. Recipients must be able to fund 100 percent of their project while seeking periodic reimbursements.

Eligible applicants include state agencies, local units of government (state political subdivisions such as cities, counties and special purpose districts such as park districts) and federally recognized Indian tribes.

Unique to the ORLP program, the project sponsor must represent a jurisdiction of at least 50,000 people, and the project must be located within, or contiguous with, the boundary of one of the 2010 census-designated urbanized areas as indicated in the full grant announcement. Virginia has 14 eligible urbanized areas.

Eligible projects can include acquisition, development, combination of acquisition and development, or rehabilitation of parks and other outdoor recreation areas.

DCR must submit projects selected through this call for proposals to NPS on behalf of the applicant.

Instructions on how to compete for funding, the ORLP pre-application guide and the pre-application materials are available at www.dcr.virginia.gov/recreational-planning/lwcf.

Pre-applications are due to DCR via email no later than July 30, 2021, at 4 p.m.
Questions directly related to the ORLP application process can be emailed to [email protected].

The Land and Water Conservation Fund Act of 1965 established a federal reimbursement program for the acquisition and development of public outdoor recreation areas. The Land and Water Conservation Fund in Virginia is administered by DCR on behalf of the National Park Service. 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.