This landmark conservation law, enacted in 2020, authorizes the use of up to $1.9 billion a year in energy development revenues for five years for needed maintenance to critical facilities and infrastructure in our wildlife refuges, national parks, forests, recreation areas and American Indian schools. The law also authorizes the use of $900 million in royalties from offshore oil and natural gas drilling sites to permanently fund the Land and Water Conservation Fund to invest in conservation and recreation opportunities across the country.
USFWS
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service infrastructure portfolio drives local economic activity and supports every recreation and conservation activity that occurs on Service lands. Infrastructure is always degrading. As one structural problem is fixed, others develop. Service structures are particularly vulnerable to deterioration because of remote field locations and the increasingly destructive effects of climate change climate change Climate change includes both global warming driven by human-induced emissions of greenhouse gases and the resulting large-scale shifts in weather patterns. Though there have been previous periods of climatic change, since the mid-20th century humans have had an unprecedented impact on Earth's climate system and caused change on a global scale.
To repair and maintain its vast portfolio of constructed real property assets, the Service receives about $170 million a year in Congressional appropriations. The National Parks and Public Land Legacy Restoration Fund, established by the Great American Outdoors Act Great American Outdoors Act This landmark conservation law, enacted in 2020, authorizes the use of up to $1.9 billion a year in energy development revenues for five years for needed maintenance to facilities and infrastructure in our wildlife refuges, national parks, forests, recreation areas and American Indian schools.
Learn more about Great American Outdoors Act (GAOA), directs about $95 million per year to the Service for priority projects to reduce the maintenance backlog at national wildlife refuges. That backlog affects facilities including visitor centers, roads, trails and other critical infrastructure.
Statistics below reflect some of the Service’s funded projects from fiscal years (FYs) 2021-2024. Funding from FY 2021 – 2024 of the Great American Outdoors Act National Parks and Public Land Legacy Restoration Fund (GAOA LRF) will improve assets at National Wildlife Refuges throughout the country.
These projects will enhance the visitor, volunteer, and employee experiences by modernizing or repairing public-use facilities and recreational access. They also address safety concerns, deferred maintenance and backlog issues and improve ADA accessibility on U.S. Fish and Wildlife public lands.
Click on the photos below for more information.
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Supporting Endangered Species at Attwater Prairie Chicken NWR (Texas).
