With a key component of the 2020 Great American Outdoors Act set to expire at the end of this month, the U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources is set to meet Friday in Grand Teton National Park to consider whether to continue funding infrastructure in national parks.
The committee includes Wyoming Republican Rep. Harriet Hageman. It’s scheduled to hold an oversight hearing at 10 a.m. at the Jenny Lake Visitor Center in Grand Teton National Park.
Several people are scheduled to speak before the committee, including Grand Teton Superintendent Chip Jenkins and Julie Calder, chair of the Jackson Hole Travel and Tourism Board.
Act Included Two Funding Streams
The main topic will likely be the Legacy Restoration Fund section of the Great American Outdoors Act, which was signed into law by President Trump in 2020.
The Legacy Restoration Fund (LRF) authorized $1.9 billion per year for five years. That included $1.3 billion for the National Park Service, and the rest for other federal land-management agencies.
The fund was earmarked for infrastructure and maintenance backlogs for national parks and other federal lands and is set to expire at the end of September.
The Act also included the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) – to be used by the federal government to purchase additional land or water.
It permanently authorized $900 million per year for that purpose.
That fund was instrumental in sealing the $100 million sale to the federal government of the 640-acre Kelly Parcel in Teton County.
Only One Part In Question
Wyoming native Rob Wallace played a key role in putting that deal together. He was assistant secretary for the Interior under the first Trump Administration, oversaw both the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Park Service.
For now, that part of the Great Outdoors Act seems safe, Wallace told Cowboy State Daily on Wednesday.
“There doesn’t seem to be any serious interest (on the committee’s part) in doing anything to the LWCF,” he said.
Instead, it’s likely the hearing will focus on the LRF portion of the act, Wallace said.
Although that might be in jeopardy, Wallace said the witnesses scheduled to speak before the committee will make a powerful case for it.
And Grand Teton is the perfect setting to demonstrate the difference those funds make, and the need to continue them, he added.
Does The Act Need Revision?
In a statement from her office to Cowboy State Daily, Hageman said the purpose of the hearing is to scrutinize the Great American Outdoors Act and its effectiveness so far.
“In advance of the Great American Outdoors Act’s (GAOA) authorization expiring at the end of September, the House Natural Resources Committee is holding a field hearing in Grand Teton National Park to view the successes and shortcomings of this law,” Hageman stated.
Hageman said “questionable projects” were authorized under the act during the Biden administration.
“Modernizing and maintaining our national parks means not just reauthorizing the law, but reforming GAOA where it’s needed," Hageman stated. "The Legacy Restoration Fund under GAOA’s first iteration made much-needed investments in our parks; however, the $10 billion increase in the National Park Service backlog and questionable projects pushed under the Biden administration require Congress to take a hard look at reforms so we seize this moment not just to extend GAOA, but refine it to ensure our parks are modernized, accessible, and held to the highest standards of transparency and accountability."
Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.
