Sen. Cramer: NPS Awards More Than $4 Million to Support Park Projects in Grand Forks, Turtle Mountain

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The National Park Service (NPS) announced an award of $4,490,000 through the Outdoor Recreation Legacy Partnership Program (ORLP) to support redevelopment projects at parks across North Dakota. The award will be distributed for the following projects:

• $3,490,000 for the Grand Forks Downtown Gateway and Greenway, an outdoor recreational area consisting of 2,200 acres.
• $1,000,000 to support the Turtle Mountain Family Recreation Areas.

The ORLP program, managed by the NPS and funded through the Land and Water Conservation Fund, provides grants for community sponsored park projects where population is greater than 30,000 residents. Since 1965, the NPS has provided more than 40,000 LWCF grants, primarily funded with federal offshore oil and gas lease revenue, to states and local communities. LWCF awards allow states to further allocate these funds to support local public parks projects and state conservation, and expand outdoor recreation access.

In 2019, U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND) helped pass the John D. Dingell, Jr. Conservation, Management, and Recreation Act. The legislation reauthorized and reformed the LWCF program to ensure states receive at least 40 percent of its funding. Grants distributed through the LWCF program are locally determined and reviewed at the state level through a process designed and managed by state partners of the NPS.