New Outdoor Recreation Legacy Partnership Program grant round open

va flagRICHMOND, Va. – The Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation is now accepting submissions for parks and outdoor recreation grants through the Outdoor Recreation Legacy Partnership Program.

The National Park Service Outdoor Recreation Legacy Partnership Program, or ORLP, provides 50–50% matching reimbursement grants for the acquisition, development and rehabilitation of parks in qualifying urban and tribal areas. It is a national competition with up to $120 million available.

The minimum ORLP grant award is $300,000, with a minimum total project cost of $600,000. The maximum grant award is $15 million.

All funded projects must be maintained and kept open as public outdoor recreation areas in perpetuity. Applicants must be able to fund 100% of project costs while seeking periodic reimbursements.

ORLP is part of the Land and Water Conservation Fund State and Local Assistance Program, or LWCF.

As the LWCF state lead agency, DCR accepts pre-application proposals on behalf of eligible subrecipients, including cities, counties and park authorities, and submits selected projects to NPS, which will choose the projects to move forward. Federally recognized Indian Tribes may apply either directly or through DCR.

To qualify, park projects must be located in:

  • Urban areas with a population of 25,000 or more in the most recent census,
  • Two or more adjacent urban areas with a combined population of 25,000 or more, or
  • Areas administered by federally recognized Indian Tribes.

A map of all census -designated urban areas is available through the U.S. Census Bureau’s TIGERWeb platform and population tables for urban areas can be found on the agency’s Urban and Rural webpage.

Program information, a guide and additional resources are available at: https://www.dcr.virginia.gov/recreational-planning/orlp.

Pre-applications are due Sept. 10 by 4 p.m. and must be emailed to recreationgrants@dcr.virginia.gov.