For a pot of money that was supposed to be spread across the country to help everyone, the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund sure has caused a lot of unhappiness, mostly because Congress has found more interesting items to spend it on than its intended purpose. The fund is in trouble again this session, just when Maine could really use some of the money.

As Kent Olsen of Friends of Acadia pointed out in an Op-Ed column Saturday, the Land and Water fund has matched $32 million worth of Maine projects since 1966: Ball fields and walking trails, boat ramps and greenways have been helped by the fund. The Allagash Wilderness Waterway was founded with the help of a $1.4 million grant from the fund. The money, which comes from the royalties of offshore oil and gas production and not taxes, has been extremely useful, what there has been of it.

But there has not been enough. Congress is authorized to spend $900 million a year on conservation and recreation projects, but it often does not reach half that level, spending the remainder on who knows what. President Clinton made news last winter when he proposed spending as much as $700 million from the fund. The problem of underfunding is made worse by the fact that, of the two ways the fund’s dollars can be distributed — through federal or state programs — the state fund has received zero funding since 1995. That particularly hurts Maine, which has only a small amount of federal land.

Against this backdrop of the feds’ reluctance to send money for state grants and an attempt by House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Budget Chair John Kasich to kill the program outright, Maine has an interesting opportunity to acquire some valuable land for public use. Sappi’s announced sale of 911,000 acres in northwestern Maine presents the state with a potential purchase of exactly the sort of land it should be protecting from development.

Sappi owns 60 miles of shoreline along Moosehead Lake, about half the undeveloped land around the lake. It is a beautiful place that has been threatened by overcutting and by development pressure. If Maine can negotiate a fair price for the land, residents could enjoy this beautiful spot for generations to come.

First, however, the state would need money. The purchase of rare places like the Sappi land was why the Land and Water Conservation Fund was established, and Congress has the ability to approve those funds overnight if it wants to. Maine’s congressional delegation and the governor’s office should continue to look into this source of funding. It could make the difference in whether the state ensures this valuable area is protected.

Beyond this potential purchase is the larger challenge of getting Congress to fully fund the Land and the Water Conservation Fund, including its state portion. Having ready money for a willing seller of appropriate land is just one good reason for Congress to change the way it has treated this money.