Great American Outdoors Act
Overview of the Issue
The Great American Outdoors Act was signed into law in July 2020 with many calling it the most significant conservation legislation in decades.
There are two main parts:
Permanently, fully funding the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF), which funds federal, state and local efforts to safeguard natural areas and create outdoor recreation opportunities throughout the country. This program has been around since 1964 and is funded by royalty payments from offshore oil and gas drilling in federal waters. However, in most years Congress has taken over half of that amount and put it toward other purposes. The Great American Outdoors Act guarantees $900 million per year in perpetuity for LWCF. This means hundreds of millions of dollars a year more for creating and enhancing recreational areas, trails, and waterways all across the country.
Establishing the National Park and Public Lands Legacy Restoration Fund, which will provide up to $9 billion over the next five years to fix deferred maintenance at national parks, wildlife refuges, forests, and other federal lands. This funding is needed badly. The number of visitors to our federal public lands has increased by 50 percent since 1980, but these budgets have remained effectively flat. This imbalance has led to a $12 billion backlog of maintenance on National Parks alone, needed to repair roads, trails, campgrounds, monuments, fire safety, utilities, and visitor infrastructure. Thanks to the Great American Outdoors Act, this will finally be addressed. Ultimately this means improved access and visitor experiences at our nation’s public lands that provide critically important recreational fishing opportunities for our industry.
Great American Outdoors Act Becomes Law
The historic and bipartisan Great American Outdoors Act became law on August 4, 2020 after being passed by Congress and signed by President Trump.
What ASA is Doing
With enactment of this legislation, much of the attention now turns to the federal land management agencies to identify spending plans and priorities for the coming years for where these additional funds will go. ASA and its partners have begun discussions about working with these agencies to ensure GAOA funds go to the highest and best use to benefit outdoor recreation.
In 2020, ASA engaged Keep America Fishing supporters generating thousands of messages to Congress.
ASA is currently working with various Federal Agencies to assure that projects which benefit recreation on our public lands are included for funding under the Great American Outdoors Act.
What You Can Do
Download the Advocacy Checklist and learn how you can get involved with the issues that affect our industry.
Sign up to receive updates from Keep America Fishing.
For more information, contact ASA Vice President of Government Affairs Mike Leonard.
