Great American Outdoors Act Passes By Boe Carlson, Three Rivers Park District Superintendent, MRPA Legislative Chair
One of the most significant pieces for legislation for parks and recreation passed this summer: the Great American Outdoors Act. The bill has two components. The first is to fully fund the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF). This will provide roughly $900 million a year that will be invested in recreation and conservation efforts. The other component of the bill is to provide roughly $1.9 billion to our public lands for deferred maintenance and infrastructure repair. The program uses royalties from offshore oil and natural gas to provide these funds. Many of our communities throughout the state have historically received funds from this program, however it has been decades since it was fully funded. This program could be the most significant investment in parks and recreation from the federal government in a very long time.
14 MINNESOTA Recreation and Parks • www.mnrpa.org
