The North Dakota Parks & Recreation Department currently administers two federal grant programs: the Land and Water Conservation Fund Program (LWCF) through the U.S. National Park Service and the Recreational Trails Program (RTP) through the U.S. Federal Highway Administration. Between the two programs (LWCF and RTP), over $59 million in grants have been awarded to 1,539 projects since program inception statewide. Grants have been awarded in every county in the state.
Demand for grant dollars has increased through the years in both grant programs. In the last Federal fiscal year, the RTP had approximately 48% of the grant requests that remained unfunded. While the LWCF, had approximately 5% of grant requests that remained unfunded.
In 2020 the Great American Outdoors Act, passed by Congress and signed by President Trump, included permanent authorization of $900 million annually for the LWCF. On average, North Dakota has received $1.8 million per year, and with the passage of the Act, the state is estimated to receive $2.4 million annually starting in the federal fiscal year 2021.
The department also facilitated the Community Grant Program from 2015 -2017 with funding allocated through the state legislature. The map below shows historically where grants have been award in North Dakota for the history of all three grant programs.
For a more interactive breakdown of the grant programs that have been and currently being facilitated by the agency. Use the filters on the left-hand side to select the grant program you are interested in viewing or select no programs to view it program-wide. The date range can also be changed to reflect a specific range. The top part of the dashboard reflects grants that have been funded, by using the scroll bar on the right hand side, users can also view unfunded grant requests.