Major Piece of Conservation Legislation Passes Congress

The House of Representatives passed the bipartisan Great American Outdoors Act, arguably the most significant piece of conservation legislation in a generation. The historic bill, which was first introduced by the late Representative John Lewis last year, permanently funds the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) and provides $9.5 billion to address the massive backlog of maintenance projects across national parks and public lands. The Senate voted overwhelmingly to pass the legislation last month.

“For years, the promise of the Land and Water Conservation Fund was broken, with funds meant to secure our nation’s public lands and waters diverted to non-conservation purposes,” said Michael Brune, the Sierra Club’s executive director. 

“This vote turns a promise broken into a promise kept. Securing funding for the LWCF and to restore our parks means that we can not only begin to address the woeful state of many of our parks and public lands but also allow us to expand investments in state and local park projects in communities that have for so long been denied access to nature and the outdoors.”

The Great American Outdoors Act provides permanent funding for the LWCF, totalling about $900 million annually. Since its creation in 1965, the LWCF has received full funding only twice, and its funding has regularly been diverted for non-conservation purposes. In 2018, the Trump administration’s proposed budget sought to  gut the program, but the John D. Dingell Jr. Conservation, Management, and Recreation Act saved the LWCF from the chopping block. This expanded funding will allow for new investment in park projects at all levels—national, state and local— and begin to address the lack of access to nearby nature and the outdoors that many communities face.

The bill also allocates funding to the new National Parks and Public Land Legacy Restoration Fund, totalling $9.5 billion over five years to address the nearly $12 billion maintenance backlog on our public lands. Seventy percent of the Restoration Fund would go to the National Park Service, 15 percent would be directed to the US Forest Service, and five percent apiece would go to the US Fish and Wildlife Service, the Bureau of Land Management, and the Bureau of Indian Education.

“Fully funding the Land and Water Conservation Fund ensures that the next generation will be able to enjoy our parks and public lands," said Joel Pannell, associate director of Sierra Club's Outdoors for All campaign. 

"The Great American Outdoors Act guarantees that these funds will be used as intended—to protect public lands and waters and support nearby nature access. We must do better to expand equitable access to the many benefits of nature by investing in our parks and public lands at all levels, specifically in communities that historically have been nature-deprived and are struggling in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. This is not the final word in our work to build an outdoors that is truly for all, but it is an important step."