How the Great American Outdoors Act Will Help You Get Outside

There’s a place in California’s Eastern Sierra called the Bodie Hills, where alpine peaks give way to sagebrush desert. The Paiute Tribe occupied this region for thousands of years. Today, backcountry skiers flock to the mountains just beyond those hills in winter and hikers explore the land in summer. Afterward, campers soothe weary muscles in hot springs. Spring marks the debut of the fishing season.

The Bodie Hills are just one example of a park, green space, or recreation destination that’s on the shortlist to receive financial support from the Land and Water Conservation Fund, which we hope will soon secure permanent and full funding after the House votes on the Great American Outdoors Act next week. The Senate voted to pass the bill earlier in June — you can read more about the bill here.

The bipartisan legislation will direct billions of dollars to our public lands for conservation and outdoor recreation, where countless shovel-ready projects are ready and waiting. Not only will these projects expand and create new opportunities for recreation on public lands in the country, the funding will create jobs and put people to work during an economic recession.

Now you’re probably wondering how those dollars will help you get outside. Truthfully, the impact will be felt throughout the country. The Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) has touched every single state and almost every county in the nation. For National Parks and other public lands, including National Forests, billions are earmarked to upgrade campgrounds, trails, water systems, and more.

In California, especially, the list of shovel-ready projects is long.

National Park sites in California have more deferred maintenance projects than any other state, according to a 2018 list compiled by the National Park Service. From Joshua Tree to the Redwoods, Death Valley to Yosemite, the total adds up to $1.8 billion. Funding from the Great American Outdoors Act will also fund restoration projects on California’s 20 National Forests and 15 million acres of BLM land.

And LWCF has created more green spaces and recreation in California than any other state, according to a 2018 letter addressed to Senators Dianne Feinstein and Kamala Harris and House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi. The letter was written by a coalition of California conservation and outdoor recreation groups: “LWCF has enabled literally thousands of projects in California.”

Since 1964, when the LWCF was created, California has received $2.5 billion—money that comes from offshore royalties—for projects that have protected and provided access to places like Lake Tahoe and Huntington Beach, Santa Monica and the Golden Gate, the Mojave Desert and up the Pacific Crest Trail. The funding arrives through individual grants to local, state, and national land management agencies to support the gamut of projects in conservation and recreation.

So what’s next on the LWCF list? In California, the LWCF will support protections for coastal habitat in the Humboldt Bay National Wildlife Refuge, as well as a corridor for migrating waterfowl called the North Central Valley Wildlife Management Area near Sacramento. It will also go toward conservation and recreation in the Bodie Hills.

“Having money come to this area to address conservation needs is really important,” said Wendy Schneider, the executive director of the Friends of the Inyo, which oversees the Bodie Hills Conservation Partnership. “The largest part of our economy, from Bridgeport across the Eastern Sierra, is recreational tourism. People come here for all the world-class recreational opportunities that exist.”

Schneider pinned one word to funding from the Great American Outdoors Act: “It’s critical.”

The House is close to passing the Great American Outdoors Act and securing funding that will improve California and every other state in the country. If you’d like to help, now’s an important time to let your representatives know how much this bill matters. No matter where you live, you can use the tool below to send a letter to Congress: