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This 1970's New Federalism style program promoted by the Nixon administration turned federal land over to the states for historical, cultural and recreational purposes.

In 1972, the U.S. Congress appropriated $200 million to the Federal Land and Water Conservation Fund to support the program with the goal of conserving wild areas and saving the disappearing open spaces around the country’s urban areas. Local governments were able to obtain 50-50 matching funds for new parks, playgrounds, and open spaces with priority given to the development and improvement of land already in public ownership. Special attention was given to projects that featured increasing the recreational use of the land.

The program’s guiding principle was rooted on the idea that America’s highly diversified population deserved a variety of natural areas to enjoy; from parks with modern conveniences to areas featuring the solitude of wilderness. Families, casual tourists and avid outdoorsmen were viewed as having equal stakes in the parks.

To support the initiative, President Nixon asked for increases in funding for open space programs of the Department of Housing and Urban Development and established the Federal Property Review Board which evaluated federally owned land to determine if the parcels could be converted into parks.

By the late 1970’s, over 700,000 acres of land had been purchased under the Legacy of Parks program. Playgrounds, forests, environmental education areas, bike trials, and jogging paths were all strong candidates for funding. Many of the urban sites were less than 20 acres. Some parks were larger such as Michigan’s 3,000 acre Fort Custer Recreation Area or New York and New Jersey’s 26,000 acre Gateway National Recreation Area.

Environmental scientists and land use planners had mixed opinions about the long term effectiveness of this program feeling there was more emphasis on developing the land for recreation than for environmental conservation. Controversy in June of 1973 revolved around forested areas surrounding Argonne National Laboratory near Chicago.

Additional criticism came from Rolf Dismant's 1973 master's thesis entitled Gateways to Nowhere: A Recent History of Federal Urban Parks. Dismant describes the history and politics behind the establishment of three urban recreation areas: Cuyahoga, Golden Gate and Gateway. He concludes his thesis by stating, “Future urban recreation policy is too critical an issue to leave in the hands of OMB, or worse, to allow the White House to use as a political football. In place of the 'Legacy of Parks' which Nixon promised, the American people were left a legacy of politics and political appointees.”

References
John Woolley and Gerhard Peters. The American Presidency Project. Santa Barbara, CA.
Gordon L. Goodman. Land as a Resource for Terrestrial Ecology and/or Public Parks: A Case Study. BioScience, Vol. 24, No. 9 (Sep., 1974), pp. 521-525
Rolf Dismant. Gateways to Nowhere: A Recent History of Federal Urban Parks. 1973.