Great American Outdoor Act

GREAT AMERICAN OUTDOORS ACT: WHAT IT MEANS FOR OUTDOOR RECREATION

by Brian Goldman

The recently-passed Great American Outdoors Act (GAOA) fully funds the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) and takes a huge step forward to restoring national parks by helping address a backlog of maintenance needs. The GAOA combines two previous bills and received strong bipartisan support. The first provides full and permanent funding of $900 million each year for the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF), the amount it is authorized to receive from offshore oil and gas revenues—not tax dollars. It has been used for more than 50 years to protect places in every state in the nation ranging from national parks to historic battlefields. The second, the Restore Our Parks Act, invests $1.9 billion annually for the next five years in deferred maintenance for lands managed by the National Park Service, USDA Forest Service, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Bureau of Land Management and Bureau of Indian Education.

To learn more about the implications of the GAOA, we interviewed Priscilla Macy, Network Coordinator for the Oregon Outdoors Coalition, a coalition of outdoor recreation businesses, conservation groups, recreation organizations, and individuals who are committed to the preservation of Oregon’s outdoor assets for future generations.

Has it been fully determined which entities will receive funding and how much they will receive?

Local governments must apply to their state to receive Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) funding. There are two types of Stateside Program grant awards: traditional (or formula grants), and competitive grants. Both programs provide states with the opportunity to subaward grants to state agencies, local units of government, and federally recognized Indian tribes.

Traditional matching grants to states are made on an annual basis by the Secretary of the Interior according to a formula within the LWCF establishing legislation, as well as by need. By statute, states have no more than three years to obligate appropriated funds, which can be used for outdoor recreation planning, acquisition of lands and waters, developing new recreational and related facilities, or redeveloping existing facilities.

A state must prepare a statewide outdoor recreation plan addressing specific needs and opportunities for recreation in order to be eligible for LWCF grant funding. A plan must be approved by the Secretary of the Interior through the National Park Service. States then award grant funding for projects to eligible entities through a competitive, open selection process.

The National Park Service also administers competitive state grants through the Outdoor Recreation Legacy Partnership Program. These grants support land acquisition and outdoor recreation projects, and are provided on an annual basis to communities of 50,000 or more people with priority given to economically disadvantaged communities that lack recreational opportunities. Additionally, the LWCF funds other conservation grants, including the American Battlefield Land Acquisition Grant Program, Cooperative Endangered Species Conservation Fund, and the Forest Legacy Program.

In addition to permanently funding the LWCF, the Great American Outdoors Act notably creates a National Parks and Public Land Legacy Restoration Fund to support deferred maintenance projects on national parks and other public lands. Half of all federal revenue from oil, gas, coal, or renewable energy on federal lands will be deposited into the Restoration Fund, with funds not exceeding $1.9 billion per fiscal year, for a total of $9.5 billion over a five-year period. The National Park Service presently has a $12 billion backlog in deferred maintenance projects; 70 percent of the Restoration Fund will be devoted to these efforts. The remaining 30 percent is to address deferred maintenance needs within the Bureau of Land Management (5 percent), Fish & Wildlife Service (5 percent), US Forest Service (15 percent), and the Bureau of Indian Education (5 percent).

While the LWCF authorizes $900 million in annual appropriations, it has rarely been funded at the fully authorized level. In fiscal year 2020, Congress allocated $495 million from the Fund, and the President’s fiscal year 2021 budget request proposed only $131 million in appropriations. The enactment of the Great American Outdoors Act would provide each year the fully authorized level of $900 million for LWCF purposes.

Ways state and local governments can use the funds:

Local governments can use LWCF funds to buy land from willing sellers at market value. This can be land from private owners, businesses, or a land trust, for example:

Any lands purchased with LWCF state and local assistance funding must be used for recreation purposes in perpetuity; these funds can be for purchasing and developing playgrounds, soccer fields, walking/ biking paths, multi-use athletic courts, and ballparks, among other uses. In addition, LWCF funding can be used to construct structures and facilities such as restrooms, visitor

centers, seating areas, picnic pavilions, boardwalks, ADA-accessible bleachers, and other features that support outdoor recreation.

Crater Lake has a $142 million maintenance backlog and Oregon Caves a $21 million backlog. How much will these entities eventually receive?

The legislation will fully fund the maintenance backlog for these areas.

Who determines how and where funds are spent? I read that the funds from the LWCF go through the Statewide Comprehensive Recreation Plan, managed by the state parks and recreation department.

Each year, states are apportioned money from the LWCF based on their population. Municipalities and government agencies can apply for their state to use some of that funding for conservation projects, as long as they match any grants they are given.

States will lean on communities and non-profits to help prioritize “shovel-ready projects.” More details: lwcfcoalition.com/ lwcf-programs.

How does a state parks and recreation department have any jurisdiction over federal lands, such as the Mt. Hood Wilderness, Gifford-Pinchot National Forest, the Columbia Gorge National Scenic Area?

They don’t. The state departments prioritize state jurisdiction projects, and there is a separate process for federally owned/managed areas. Both states and federal agencies try to coordinate as much as possible on priorities, though.

The Mazamas is primarily a mountaineering/hiking organization. We’re interested in how the Great American Outdoors Act will improve accessibility to hiking trails and mountains in Oregon, Washington and Idaho.

Great! There are a lot of ways the funds will do this. Here are a few (not all) examples:

OREGON • Oregon plans to use its share of the funding on several projects, including improving drinking water along the north coast, and building a trail system near Spence Mountain in Klamath Falls. WASHINGTON • A memorial of the SR 530 (Oso) slide in

Snohomish County. • Playgrounds and parks for baseball, basketball and soccer in Ilwaco,

Lakewood, Gig Harbor, Othello,

Poulsbo, Mountlake Terrace, Zillah and

Seattle. • Community pools in Garfield, Pierce

County and on Whidbey Island. • Boating access in Snohomish and

Skagit Counties. • Trailheads in College Place, Renton,

Covington and King County. IDAHO • Idaho has more than a half billion dollars’ worth of deferred maintenance in its national parks and forests, according to the U.S. Forest Service. • Idaho ranks third in the nation in Forest

Service deferred maintenance project costs, with the Idaho Panhandle and

Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forests having $143 million and $140 million, respectively, in deferred maintenance costs.

Do you have any information about hiking trails? Will funds be used to improve the degraded trails?

Yes. Funds will be allocated by the priorities identified by local jurisdictions, state departments and federal agencies.

Will signage improve with this funding?

If signage is a part of a project or maintenance deferment that has been identified, yes.

Will the deeply potholed Forest Service roads which lead to trailheads be improved?

It’s hard to say where non-paved roads fall into, but the deferred maintenance fund covered transportation and nontransportation. Transportation includes bridges, tunnels, paved parking, and paved roadways for the National Park Service. However, if areas are identified by states for improvement, I would think that roads would be included, especially if they are deferred maintenance issues for federal agencies.

Will the Pacific Crest Trail be funded?

Yes: Over the past 18 years, almost $46 million from the Land and Water Conservation Fund has been used to acquire and permanently protect just over 33,000 acres along the PCT. About 10 percent of the trail still crosses private property with the footpath protected only by a simple easement. These properties could one day be covered with buildings or power lines. Purchasing them (only from willing sellers) will preserve the wilderness trail experience Congress intended.

For example: Last summer, the PCTA, The Trust for Public Land, the U.S. Forest Service, the Michigan-California Timber Co. and the Wyss Foundation partnered to protect 17 miles of the PCT along the Trinity Divide in Northern California. The timber company realized that the best use of its 10,300 acres—which includes the headwaters of four rivers, 10 lakes and mountain views—was for recreation and protecting vital habitat, not timber production. $10 million from the LWCF made the project possible.

More info about trails: tinyurl.com/ y22g992w.

How soon we will see improvement?

Right now, states are all working to identify “shovel ready” projects, and have already prioritized maintenance backlog items. So, it is not too early!

Below is a link to a list of proposed projects in the Pacific Northwest (and elsewhere), including maintenance on 40 trail bridges, road repairs, improvements to Multnomah Falls Lodge, Timberline Lodge, the Pacific Crest Trail, the Pacific Northwest Trail and many others: tinyurl. com/y33fe6zd.