Outdoor Recreation Legacy Program
The Outdoor Recreation Legacy Program (ORLP) provides new or significantly improved recreation opportunities in economically-disadvantaged communities. ORLP projects are selected through a National Park Service-led national competition of projects solicited and nominated by the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) State Lead Agencies.
Funding Opportunity - OPEN
The Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for the seventh funding cycle for the ORLP was released by the National Park Service (NPS) on July 29, 2022. Over $192 million is available this funding cycle. State LWCF lead agencies may request grants on behalf of the state or eligible local jurisdictions. Interested applicants should contact Justin Hancock at 803-734-1747 or jhancock@scprt.com. The deadline for submission of an application to SCPRT is February 24, 2023. NPS reviews and makes final award decisions for ORLP.
Please Note: Participation in the competition will now require submission of a complete LWCF application package. That is, in addition to the narrative and documents required to address the ORLP criteria, the application must include all the forms and other documents consistent with a formula grant application, compliance with NEPA, NHPA Section 106, and other federal laws must be initiated, etc.
Project Sponsor Eligibility
Eligible project sponsors 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.
Project sponsors must match the grant award 1:1 with non-federal dollars.
- Grant Minimum: $300,000
- Grant Maximum: $10,000,000
Project Eligibility
ORLP projects must be consistent with the purposes and requirements of the LWCF Act and LWCF Manual. In addition, ORLP project must meet all of the following requirements:
- meet recreation goals as identified in, and align with, at least one priority of, the State’s Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan
- are located within a city having a population of 30,000 or more, and
- serve the specific needs of a community(ies) that is (are) severely lacking in walkable, publicly accessible, outdoor recreation (“park deserts”), and that has a poverty rate of at least 20% or that is at least 10% higher than that of the project city, county, and state rates).
For the purposes of this competition, for a community to be considered a “park desert,” there must be:
- no existing parks within a .5-mile radius of the community(ies) to be served by the park (not the radius of the proposed park);
- one or two small parks within a .5-mile radius of the community(ies) that is/are not large enough to support the size of the population of the service area, or otherwise unable to provide a variety of recreational opportunities; or
- one or two existing parks (potentially of adequate size), including the park that is being addressed in this project, that is/are so obsolete or underdeveloped that a major redevelopment or rehabilitation is necessary to be able to significantly increase the number of people or user groups who could be served in a way that would be equivalent to a new park.
- existing parks that are inaccessible to the target community due to physical barriers such as transportation infrastructure, rivers, etc.
Proposed projects must align with the above listed ORLP purposes to be considered for selection.
Additional details about ORLP, contacts, and application information is available on the National Park Service’s Outdoor Recreation Legacy Partnership program page.