Senate to Vote on Great American Outdoors Act

Breaking Update 6/8: The Senate just voted 80 to 17 in favor of moving forward with the Great American Outdoors Act - this is a really big step forward but we're not done yet. There are more votes so there’s still time to drop your Senators a line and ask them to support a clean bill and pass it this week. Thank you to more than 3000 outdoors enthusiasts who spoke up for funding parks and public lands and got this done.

As we consider the intersection of conservation work and racial and social justice, the Great American Outdoors Act is a step in the right direction, funding more parks and green spaces across the country.

The Great American Outdoors Act, a bill that includes permanent full funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) and an improved Restore Our Parks Act (ROPA), will get a vote in Congress next week.

As you may remember, the Senate was planning to vote on this package back in March before the corona virus pandemic took a turn for the worse. Now, the Senate will vote on the Great American Outdoors Act next week, and if the bill passes, we would like to see the House follow shortly thereafter. Decision makers are hustling on this because the outdoor community has worked tirelessly to make it a priority.

You can read our full policy letter on the bill here. The Great American Outdoors Act includes:

Permanent funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund

The Land and Water Conservation Fund provide crucial funding to create parks, trails, and recreation infrastructure around the country. Although LWCF is authorized to get $900 million each year, none of that funding is guaranteed, so in practice it gets about half that, and the rest of the funds are diverted for other purposes. This bill will guarantee full funding for LWCF each year.

Restore Our Parks and Public Lands Act

Years of inadequate funding by Congress have led to a maintenance backlog on National Parks, but also on National Forests and other public lands that Americans enjoy. ROPA will provide funding of up to $1.9 billion every year for deferred maintenance on National Parks and other public lands. The outdoor community helped secure additional funding for maintenance on National Forests, BLM lands, and more.

Right now, with many states still in partial-shutdown, getting outside is more important than ever. At the same time, the popularity of being outside has highlighted that we don’t have enough close-to-home recreation opportunities, and the ones that exist aren’t necessarily equitably distributed. LWCF has funded close-to-home recreation in every congressional district in the country. This bill will help meet the demand for accessible outdoor spaces, put people to work building trails and parks, and help create resources like trail systems that will provide lasting economic benefits.

Here’s what you can do to help: write your members today, right now, and ask for their enthusiastic support of the Great American Outdoors Act. Congress is planning to vote next week and the bill still needs more support, especially among a few members of the Senate.