Controversial legislation tucked into a contentious highway-funding bill gives state and federal governments $1.4 billion to buy private property for new conservation efforts and adds even more inventory to the nation’s 635 million acre holding. Rep. Doc Hastings (R-Wash.), chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, says this two-year funding mechanism for the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) is “particularly egregious” because the government doesn’t have billions of dollars needed to care for the vast holdings. “The mandatory buying of more land under LWCF is a fiscal dereliction of duty—especially since the government can’t afford to maintain the lands...