ORLP Grant: $125M for Urban Parks and Outdoor Recreation (FY 2026)

The National Park Service is making up to $125 million available through the Outdoor Recreation Legacy Partnership (ORLP) Program — one of the largest dedicated federal funding sources for urban parks and outdoor recreation. ORLP funds both the acquisition of land for new parks and the development or renovation of existing outdoor recreation facilities in qualifying urban communities and on tribal lands.

What Is the ORLP Program?

ORLP is a program within the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) State and Local Assistance Program, administered by the National Park Service (NPS). It provides matching grants to acquire land and water for parks and to develop or renovate outdoor recreation facilities that serve qualifying urban areas and tribal communities.

Crucially, ORLP funding is in addition to the traditional LWCF state formula grants — applying for ORLP does not reduce your state's annual LWCF apportionment. This makes ORLP a true incremental opportunity for communities with a park or recreation project that needs federal capital to move forward.

This NOFO is issued as a five-year recurring notice. The FY 2026 application window closes November 1, 2026, with subsequent annual deadlines on November 1 of each year through 2030.

Who Can Apply?

ORLP eligibility is structured around two tiers: direct applicants and subrecipients who must apply through a state.

Direct Applicants

• State and Territorial Lead Agencies in each of the 50 states, plus American Samoa, the District of Columbia, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Each state's LWCF Lead Agency is designated by the Governor or by state legislation.
• Federally recognized Indian Tribes, including any Tribe, band, nation, pueblo, village, or community acknowledged by the Secretary of the Interior.
• Alaska Native communities and organizations, including Alaska Native Corporations (Regional, Village, Urban, and Group Corporations).

Eligible Subrecipients

The following entities are eligible but must apply through their State or Territorial Lead Agency:

• Political subdivisions of a State or Territory — including cities and counties
• Special purpose districts that manage open space, such as park and recreation districts
• Native Hawaiian communities or organizations, such as Native Hawaiian Organizations

If you are a city, county, or park district, the practical first step is to contact your state's LWCF Lead Agency — usually a state parks, natural resources, or recreation office — to understand their internal ORLP review and submission process. State Lead Agencies typically run their own pre-application or sponsorship process before forwarding selected projects to NPS.

What Counts as a "Qualifying Area"?

ORLP projects must be located within a Qualifying Area, defined as either:

1. An urban area with a population of 25,000 or more in the most recent census, or two or more adjacent urban areas with a combined population of 25,000 or more; or
2. An area administered by a federally recognized Indian Tribe, an Alaska Native community or organization, or a Native Hawaiian community or organization.

This makes ORLP one of the few federal park-funding programs explicitly oriented toward urban communities — including underserved neighborhoods within larger cities — alongside tribal and Native lands.

What Projects Are Eligible?

ORLP funds two project types:

1. Acquisition

Acquiring land or water for parks and other outdoor recreation purposes within a qualifying area. This can include vacant urban parcels for new neighborhood parks, brownfield-adjacent sites suitable for restoration, or waterfront and trail-corridor acquisitions.

2. Development & Renovation

Developing new outdoor recreation facilities or renovating existing ones to expand access. Eligible facilities are those that provide outdoor recreation opportunities to the public in qualifying areas — playgrounds, sports fields, trails, picnic areas, splash pads, restrooms, lighting, and other park infrastructure.

Cost Share & Match

ORLP requires a dollar-for-dollar (1:1) match. Federal funds cover up to 50% of total project costs; the applicant is responsible for at least 50% in non-federal funds. Match sources commonly include municipal capital budgets, state recreation bond funds, dedicated park sales-tax revenue, philanthropic contributions, and the appraised value of donated land.

The Perpetuity Requirement

One requirement deserves special attention before you commit: any park or site assisted by ORLP must be maintained and accessible for public outdoor recreation use in perpetuity. This applies to the assisted park or site in its entirety, not just the area touched by federal funds.

In practice, this means converting an ORLP-assisted park to non-recreation use later — for example, redeveloping a portion for housing or a public building — requires a formal Section 6(f) conversion process and replacement with land of equal value, location, and utility. Plan accordingly when selecting the project site.

Alignment with LWCF and National Priorities

As an LWCF program, ORLP projects must align with the purposes and requirements of the LWCF Act and the LWCF Manual. The FY 2026 NOFO also references alignment with current Executive and Secretarial priorities, including Executive Order 14313 ("Establishing the President's Make America Beautiful Again Commission") and Secretarial Order 3442 on LWCF implementation. Reference the published NOFO for the current scoring criteria and any priority designations.

How to Apply

Before you submit, make sure your federal registrations are in place — these can take several weeks:

• An active SAM.gov registration
• A valid Unique Entity Identifier (UEI)
• A Grants.gov account for your organization

For cities, counties, and park districts, the application flow is:

1. Contact your State LWCF Lead Agency to understand their ORLP process, internal deadlines, and any state-level prioritization criteria.
2. Work with your state agency to assemble project materials — site control documentation, conceptual designs, cost estimates, match commitments, and community engagement records.
3. Your State Lead Agency submits the application to NPS through Grants.gov on your behalf.

Tribes, Alaska Native organizations, and State Lead Agencies applying for themselves submit directly via Grants.gov.

Tips for a Competitive Application

1. Engage Your State Lead Agency Early

State internal deadlines often precede the federal November 1 deadline by months. Identify your State Lead Agency in summer to give yourself enough runway for their process.

2. Anchor in Community Need and Engagement

ORLP prioritizes projects that serve communities with limited access to outdoor recreation. Use park-access data (such as ParkServe or Trust for Public Land mapping), demographic context, and documented community engagement to make the case that your project closes a real gap.

3. Show Site Control and Project Readiness

Strong applications demonstrate that the project can move quickly: site control or a clear acquisition path, completed conceptual designs, an honest cost estimate, and confirmed (not aspirational) match funding.

4. Plan for Perpetuity from Day One

Pick a site you are comfortable committing to public recreation forever. If long-term land-use intent is ambiguous, choose a different site rather than risk a complicated Section 6(f) conversion down the road.

5. Document Match Sources Concretely

Identify each non-federal match source with a dollar amount and a status (committed, pending, or applied for). Letters from contributing partners — municipal finance, foundations, friends groups — strengthen the budget narrative.

Contact Information

• Program Email: ORLP_Inquiries@nps.gov
• Program Website: nps.gov — Outdoor Recreation Legacy Partnership
• Find Your State LWCF Lead Agency: nps.gov — LWCF State Contacts

How Avila Can Help

ORLP applications combine federal program requirements, state-level coordination, and community engagement evidence — and they need to land at the right intersection of project readiness and equity-of-access storytelling. For parks and public works staff, juggling that alongside everything else they manage is a real lift.

Avila's AI-powered platform helps local governments and tribes streamline the grant application process by:

• Analyzing the NOFO to surface eligibility, qualifying-area rules, and scoring criteria
• Helping draft narratives that connect community need to project design
• Tracking state and federal deadlines, match commitments, and registrations
• Managing the full grant lifecycle from discovery to closeout

Ready to explore how Avila can support your ORLP application? Book a demo to learn more.

For more on federal grant applications, see our guides on federal grant writing, SAM.gov registration, and Grants.gov registration. For other recently opened infrastructure funding, explore our guides to the BIT3 Bridge Program, the Culvert AOP Program, and the Nationally Significant Federal Lands and Tribal Projects Program.