Note: Your legislators still need to hear from runners as the Legacy Restoration Fund reauthorization will have more upcoming votes.
Today, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee voted unanimously to advance the America the Beautiful Act (S.1547), sponsored by Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT) and Sen. Angus King (I-ME) and cosponsored by over 60 other senators from both sides of the aisle. The bill would reauthorize the Legacy Restoration Fund (LRF) for five years. Runners across the country took action through Runners for Public Lands’ digital advocacy platform yesterday and this morning urging their senators who sit on the committee to vote in favor of the bill.
The LRF was established in 2020 by the Great America Outdoors Act and, until it expired late last year, the program helped land management agencies carry out projects to address a massive backlog of maintenance and restoration of aging infrastructure on federal public lands. These projects included repairing trails, roads, and bridges, improving campgrounds and visitor facilities, and fixing water systems that serve recreation and other sites. The LRF has been a source of much-needed funding for agencies that had to work with chronically underfunded recreation and visitor management budgets.
Watch a recording of the committee meeting (it starts at 19:44 in the video above).
The America the Beautiful Act is one of two bills that would reauthorize the LRF moving through Congress. Rep. Bruce Westerman (R-AR) and Rep. Jared Huffman (D-CA) recently introduced H.R.9250, known as the Great America Outdoors Act 250 (GAOA 250), into the House of Representatives. Like the Senate bill, the GAOA 250 would reauthorize the LRF for five years while also modifying some technical aspects about how the program is funded and how projects are prioritized. The House Natural Resources Committee held a field hearing on the GAOA 250 in Arkansas last week. Both bills would authorize nearly $2 billion in annual funding for the program.
Runners for Public Lands supports reauthorizing the LRF, and we are excited to see these bills moving through Congress so quickly. The LRF helps keep trails, trailheads, campgrounds, roads, and other recreation infrastructure that are a key part of our running experiences safe and accessible. We want to see Congress ensure that the program stays focused on genuine maintenance needs, public access, and conservation-compatible recreation.
The America the Beautiful Act is now able to get a vote by the full Senate, so every senator needs to hear from their runner constituents. The full Senate vote may happen as soon as next week, and a vote in the House could come soon after that. Some differences between the House and Senate versions of the legislation still need to be worked out, but there is strong bipartisan momentum to get this across the finish line.
Featured image: Alpine areas in the Pike-San Isabel National Forest, shown here, received $1,000,000 through the LRF last year to restore trails damaged by heavy visitation. Photo by Bryant Baker