Great American Outdoors Act in the Southwest
The Great American Outdoors Act
The USDA Forest Service has new opportunities to deliver benefits to the American public!
The Great American Outdoors Act gave the USDA Forest Service new opportunities to deliver benefits to the American public through major investments in recreation infrastructure, public lands access, and land and water conservation. These investments will also contribute to the economic growth and job creation in rural America. GAOA provides permanent full funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) and establishes a new National Parks and Public Land Legacy Restoration Fund (LRF) to address the deferred maintenance backlog for 5 federal agencies over the next 5 years.
Legacy Restoration Fund
The Forest Service currently administers more than 370,000 miles of roads, 13,800 bridges, 159,000 miles of trails, 1,700 dams and reservoirs, 1,500 communications sites, 32,000 recreation sites, and 40,000 facilities of other types. The maintenance backlog on this infrastructure is estimated to be $5.9B.
The new Legacy Restoration Fund will allow the Forest Service to improve critical infrastructure that is essential to the use and enjoyment of national forests and grasslands. The Forest Service receives 15 percent of all LRF funds, and for FY23, the Southwestern Region has received $23,982,600 for deferred maintenance projects.
For the first year of LRF funding, the Forest Service identified a broad mix of critical infrastructure projects to reduce its deferred maintenance backlog while improving the quality of the visitor experience and contributing to local economies. A total of 27 LRF projects in the Southwestern Region have been authorized by Congress to begin implementation in FY23.
Southwestern Region 2022 ProjectsSouthwestern Region 2021 Projects