At a time when much attention is focused on both the growing American obesity epidemic and the loss of open space amid suburban sprawl, it is troubling that the Bush administration has included no funding in its budget for a program that helps communities build parks, ball fields and trails. It is up to Congress to restore funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund. Sen. Susan Collins is leading an effort to secure $100 million, money that will be quickly spent on worthwhile projects throughout the country.

Earlier in his administration, the president requested, and Congress appropriated, an average of about $100 million a year for LWCF stateside grants. Last year was the first when the president included no funding for the program. Congress restored $30 million, far less than what was needed. The president again included no money for LWCF in his budget for 2007.

Sen. Collins and 49 of her colleagues, including Sen. Olympia Snowe, have written to the Senate Interior Appropriations Subcommittee leaders urging that $100 million be devoted to LWCF.

Begun in 1964, the program has helped communities refurbish and build parks and playing fields, establish recreational trails and preserve open space. The money has been allocated to an estimated 40,000 state and local projects spread over 94 percent of America’s counties.

Nearly 800 state and local projects have been completed in Maine with LWCF funding. These include building municipal recreational facilities and improving state parks from Aroostook to York counties.

Congress created LWCF “to strengthen the health and vitality of the citizens of the United States.” At a time when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 64 percent of American adults and 15 percent of children are overweight or obese, the value of parks and municipal recreation facilities can’t be overstated.

If 10 percent of adults began a walking program, for example, costs for heart disease would decrease by $5.6 billion. Each dollar invested in building a convenient trail or park is returned several times over in reduced health care costs and improved quality of life.

That’s why this successful program deserves full funding, not an elimination of funding.