WASHINGTON, DC — ConservAmerica today applauded the introduction of the Great American Outdoors Act in the U.S. House of Representatives.
“ConservAmerica welcomes the introduction of the House companion of the Great American Outdoors Act. This legislation provides badly needed resources to preserve natural habitats and open spaces as well as address the $20 billion backlog in deferred maintenance that is plaguing our national parks and public lands,” said Jeff Kupfer, president of ConservAmerica. “And it’s even more important to get this done quickly as Americans deal with the impacts of the pandemic.”
The legislation addresses the deferred maintenance at our National Parks and permanently funds the Land and Water Conservation Fund.
The national park system has a deferred maintenance backlog of $11.9 billion that is eroding the visitor experience and threatening the very resources that the National Park Service was created to protect. The Park Service has more than 76,000 assets to maintain including roads, trails, and buildings and many of them are aging and in disrepair.
With America’s outdoor recreation economy supporting over 7.6 million jobs and over $887 billion in annual economic output, there are compelling economic reasons to invest in our parks and public lands.
The bill was introduced by the following co-sponsors: Rep. Joe Cunningham (D-SC), Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ), Norma Torres (D-CA), Rep. Xochitl Torres Small (D-NM), Rep. Mike Simpson (R-ID), Rep. Jared Golden (D-ME), Rep. T.J. Cox (D-CA), Rep. John Katko (R-NY), Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-NY), Rep. Kendra Horn (D-OK), Rep. Steve Stivers (R-OH), and Rep. Jeff Fortenberry (R-NE)
Source: ConservAmerica
