A bend at Rustic Falls in Yellowstone National Park where several million dollars in grants will fund the widening of the road and the construction of a parking lot and construction trail south of Mammoth that was announced on June 18, 2024. (Photo by Blair Miller, Daily Montanan)
U.S. Sen. Steve Daines on Thursday introduced a bill with bipartisan support that seeks to reauthorize a program to address billions in overdue maintenance at national parks, increase program funding from the federal government, and seeks to increase the amount of public donations supporting those projects.
The act would for keep the program running for another eight years.
Called the “America the Beautiful Act,” the bill would build upon parts of the bipartisan Great American Outdoors Act signed in 2020 under President Donald Trump, which authorized up to $6.5 billion in funding during the course of five years for the National Parks and Public Legacy Restoration Fund through fiscal year 2025. Since 2020, more than $4 billion has been committed from the fund to projects across the country.
Daines, a Republican, led introduction of the bill Thursday alongside Sens. Angus King, I-Maine, Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., and Mark Warner, D-Virginia. He said in a statement the bill would continue to address a backlog of maintenance projects on certain public lands and at national parks, including Yellowstone and Glacier.
“Our country is home to incredible national parks and public lands – that’s what makes us America the beautiful. I’ll always fight to protect our parks and work to make sure we’re managing our public lands as effectively as possible,” Daines said in a statement.
NPS / Tim Rains
Daines also provided a wide-ranging list of groups supporting the measure, which includes the National Park Foundation, Montana Outfitters and Guides Association, Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, Montana Trout Unlimited, the Boone and Crockett Club, the Property and Environment Research Center, and the Montana Conservation Corps, among others.
“This bipartisan legislation marks a significant step forward in our collective effort to continue preserving and protecting our nation’s invaluable natural and cultural heritage,” National Park Foundation President Will Shafroth said in a statement. “Building upon the extraordinary success of the LRF, which has invested more than $4 billion in critical projects to date, this reauthorization will empower our national parks to address long-standing maintenance needs and directly improve the visitor experience.”
According to a draft version of the bill provided by Daines, the measure, if passed and signed into law, would reauthorize the Legacy Restoration Fund through fiscal year 2033 and increasing the annual funding by $100 million a year, from $1.9 billion to $2 billion annually.
The bill would also have the federal government put a priority on projects that already have 15% of matching funds for the project committed and would require participating agencies to put together public awareness campaigns to raise more money for donations for projects.
The six-page bill would allow agencies to proceed with projects for the next fiscal year under a continuing resolution, would ensure any land administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are eligible for funding, and is aimed at increasing transparency by requiring agencies to compile two-year lists of projects and report more information to Congress on how maintenance backlogs are being reduced.
The full National Park Service maintenance backlog was estimated at $23 billion as of October 2023. In Montana, out of the eight park units identified by the park service, there is a $243 million estimated backlog, including $117 million in maintenance at Glacier National Park, and $53 million at both the Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area and Yellowstone National Park, according to the park service. Buildings ($33 million) and housing ($31 million) carry the most expensive backlogs.
In Montana so far, five projects have received a total of $86.3 million in Legacy Restoration Fund money. Glacier National Park got $26 million to repair and resurface 9 miles of Going-to-the-Sun Road and replace the bridge over McDonald Creek in 2021.
And the park received $15.7 million to replace the Swiftcurrent Water Distribution System and $10.9 million to replace the Headquarters Wastewater System in 2022.
For fiscal year 2025, $33.3 million is going to replacing the utility systems and water system components within Glacier National Park, which should be effective for the next 50 years, according to the park service.
In the Wyoming portion of Yellowstone National Park, there is an estimated $1.4 billion maintenance backlog. Projects have already received tens of millions of dollars within the park during the past five years, including addressing wastewater collection and treatment systems, several bridges, repairing structures at Fort Yellowstone and other historic sites within the park.
Most of the $439 million in Legacy Restoration Fund money granted to Wyoming has gone toward projects in Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Park.
“By increasing funding up to $2 billion annually for the next eight years, and by allowing our public land management agencies to advance projects should Congress be able to pass a budget, we can ensure continued on-the-ground progress to reduce deferred maintenance of our public lands,” said Kaden McArthur, the government relations manager for Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, in a statement.
Clayton Elliott, the conservation and government relations director for Montana Trout Unlimited, thanked Daines for leading on the reauthorization effort.
“The LRF is a critical tool to meaningfully address the chronic deferred maintenance on our public land estate that impedes public access while simultaneously moving the needle on collaborative efforts for our wild fish and their habitats,” Elliott said in a statement.