We must not risk defunding environmental conservation programs

Hear the words of Suzan DelBene, spoken with urgency and clarity: “We must not risk defunding environmental conservation programs, which is why Congress should reauthorize the Land and Water Conservation Fund to preserve our natural resources.” In these words is not only a policy demand, but a cry of reverence for the land itself. For the earth is not endless, its treasures not inexhaustible. To preserve them requires vigilance, sacrifice, and the wisdom to plan for generations yet unborn.

The origin of this saying lies in the political struggles over the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF), a program created in 1964 to safeguard natural lands, water resources, and recreation areas across the United States. Funded largely by fees from offshore oil and gas leases, it became a lifeline for the protection of parks, forests, rivers, and wildlife. Yet time and again, its reauthorization has been threatened by neglect or opposition in Congress. DelBene’s call arises from this tension: the danger that short-term politics might dismantle what was built for the eternal good of the land.

Consider the lessons of history. In ancient Mesopotamia, the once-great farmlands were drained by over-irrigation until the soil grew white with salt and barren to the seed. The people reaped wealth for a time, but when they failed to preserve their natural resources, their civilization withered. So too in the American Dust Bowl of the 1930s: when conservation was neglected and the land was stripped by reckless plowing, the winds rose and carried away the earth itself. Families fled, crops vanished, and the land became a wasteland. These tragedies show us the truth DelBene proclaims: neglect of conservation leads to ruin.

Her warning against defunding environmental programs is not merely fiscal—it is moral. To cut the lifelines of conservation is to rob the future for the sake of the present. It is to trade the forests, rivers, and mountains for fleeting coins