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Maintenance Action Teams

What are Maintenance Action Teams?

Maintenance Action Teams (MATs) are led by experienced trades professionals who train and complement Wage Grade Professional crews to perform critical maintenance and repair services on public lands managed by the National Park Service (NPS) and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS).

With funding from the Great American Outdoors Act (GAOA) National Parks and Public Land Legacy Restoration Fund (LRF), MATs perform deferred maintenance and repair (DM&R) work at national parks and national wildlife refuges across the United States. As part of this DM&R work, MATs also provide training and networking opportunities to public lands employees and partnership organizations. MATs consist of in-house wage-grade professionals across a variety of trades, including heavy equipment operation, electrical, plumbing, carpentry, masonry, and historic preservation.

MAT teams are based at field stations throughout the country and mobilized regionally and nationally to improve their skills while performing critical DM&R activities. Examples of MAT activities include earthwork, water management, trail repair, historic preservation, and constructed real property related rehabilitation activities.

In the first three years of GAOA funding, NPS is authorized to use $34.1 million for MAT activities and FWS is authorized to use $13.7 million.
  

Benefits of Maintenance Action Teams

DOI sees several benefits of MATs, including:

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MATs provide training and hands-on educational opportunities in a variety of trades, build skillsets and professional networks, and improve morale that lasts throughout careers. 

 

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Teams are easily mobilized.

 

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MATs provide an opportunity to put GAOA LRF dollars to work at parks and refuges. 

 

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MAT activities can be executed more rapidly, train our workforce, and reduce the cost of rehabilitation compared to contracted work. 

 

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MATs provide opportunities to strengthen relationships and enhance partnerships with targeted partner organizations, resulting in more diverse candidate pools for employment and internship opportunities.

 

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MAT activities enable wage-grade professionals at public lands to leverage a network of MAT tradespeople when encountering specific maintenance challenges.

 

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Upon completion of MAT activities, maintenance professionals will be better able to properly maintain assets and critical systems, which will help to extend their lifecycle and alleviate the need for unscheduled emergency repairs or comprehensive rehabilitation after years of declining condition.

 

Completed MAT Activities Map

Click the image below to access an interactive pinpoint map of the locations where FWS and NPS MATs completed DM&R activities with GAOA funding. Hover over each pinpoint to view the park, station, or refuge name and the bureau. Filter MAT activities by Bureau, or State or Territory. Completed MAT activities are updated as of February 2023: Click here to download the data in Excel format.

* Pinpoints represent approximate central locations for all activity associated with the projects.