House Expected to Vote on Great American Outdoors Act on July 22

The House is expected to vote on billions of dollars in funding for parks, public lands, green spaces, trails, and outdoor recreation on July 22, and House members need to hear from their constituents this week.

Write Your Representative

The Great American Outdoors Act means billions of dollars in funding for trails, parks, and public lands and waters across the country. It includes permanent funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) and funding for the maintenance backlog on National Parks, National Forest, and other public lands. In total, the bill means as much as $2.8 billion a year on public lands, outdoor recreation, maintenance and restoration, and new green spaces.

As we’ve previously reported, the Senate passed the Great American Outdoors Act back in June. The Senate vote was considered the bigger hurdle, but the House vote is not a sure thing. It’s vital for the outdoor community to reach out to their House representatives and ask for their support to pass the bill.

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 Representatives today, right now, and ask for their enthusiastic support of the Great American Outdoors Act.