Great American Outdoors Act National Parks and Public Land Legacy Restoration Fund (GAOA LRF) projects are located in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and multiple U.S. territories to address priority maintenance needs at national parks, national wildlife refuges, on other public lands, and at Bureau of Indian Education (BIE)-funded schools.
GAOA LRF projects fund the repair and maintenance of a wide range of Department of the Interior (Interior) assets including campsites, trails, roads, bridges, parking lots, BIE-funded school facilities, water and wastewater systems, energy systems, communications infrastructure, and more. Project selection for GAOA LRF is based on four key criteria: maximizing the number of citizens served, improving financial health, protecting those we serve, and planning for the future by repairing and modernizing Interior assets. These criteria help to ensure that GAOA LRF projects support Interior’s mission while having the greatest impact possible. Without this historic investment, assets in our national parks, national wildlife refuges, and other public lands could fall into disrepair and risk the safety of our visitors, employees, and volunteers, as well as our natural and cultural resources. This investment also helps prevent assets at BIE-funded schools from falling into disrepair and interrupting student learning and housing.
The benefits of GAOA LRF projects are wide-ranging, from positively impacting visitors’ experiences, local communities, wildlife, and the environment to increasing the quality of education available to students at BIE-funded schools. For more information about project benefits, visit our GAOA LRF Program Impact webpage.
Check out the Project Spotlights below to explore some GAOA LRF projects!
Project Spotlights
Southwest – Education Demolition Project
Bureau of Indian Education
Excess buildings at Bureau of Indian Education-funded schools can pose safety hazards, be energy inefficient, and diminish the learning environment for students. This project will demolish 9,613 square feet of excess buildings and remediate the building sites at three schools in New Mexico, Ohkay Owingeh Community School, Haak’U Community Academy, and San Felipe Pueblo Elementary School. Removing these buildings will improve safety, decrease nuisance issues, and improve aesthetics of school sites for students, teachers, and staff.
Sourdough Campground Bridge Replacement
Bureau of Land Management
Sourdough Campground in Alaska is the endpoint for travels on the Gulkana Wild and Scenic River, one of the most popular rivers in the state for its abundant wildlife and water-based recreational activities. This project replaced the Sourdough Campground bridge, which provides sole access for thousands of visitors per year to the campground’s boat launch, an important destination for fishing on an isolated part of the river. The original bridge was functionally obsolete due to the structure’s deteriorating girders and was restricted from use because it could not carry highway-legal loads. Replacement of the bridge provides a safe structure and restores public access to the boat launch.
Maintenance Action Team at Dinosaur National Monument
National Park Service
The historic Wade and Curtis Cabin at Dinosaur National Monument in Colorado was one of the first tourist operations in the Northeast Utah and Northwest Colorado region and has been attracting visitors across the country since the 1930s. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986, the cabin remains an important piece of national history and heritage. This project utilizes a GAOA-LRF funded Maintenance Action Team (MAT) to provide preservation and rehabilitation work for both the interior and exterior of the cabin. The work includes repairs to the roof, walls, windows, and foundation, the addition of new flooring, electrical outlets, exhibit lighting, an accessible walkway, and an improved drainage system. Renovation work will allow for the cabin to open new interpretive exhibits, helping visitors understand the geology, ecology, and history of the Green River and Canyon of Lodore.
Attwater Prairie Chicken National Wildlife Refuge
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
The Attwater Prairie Chicken National Wildlife Refuge, located in Texas, spans 10,541 acres of coastal prairie habitat that protects one of the most endangered birds in North America—the Attwater Prairie Chicken. This project modernizes the refuge’s public use facilities by demolishing old structures and consolidating them into a new administrative and visitor facility and multi-purpose maintenance building. These new facilities will enable the refuge to provide interpretive and environmental education to the public, while addressing millions in deferred maintenance needs.
Wounded Knee District School
Bureau of Indian Education
Wounded Knee District School, affiliated with the Lakota Sioux Nation and located in South Dakota, serves students from kindergarten through 8th grade. This project replaces the existing campus, which consists of six major buildings and three minor support structures, with new, Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) Silver-designed academic facilities that meet the Federal Sustainable Building requirements. This project also replaces major site infrastructure including the 60-year-old water distribution and sewer collection systems, improves site drainage to divert water from around the school building, reconstructs roads, parking lots, and sidewalks, and installs a security fence to increase safety. The new academic facilities on campus will help ensure the success of students and faculty and reduce ongoing operations and maintenance costs.
Grub Dam Rehabilitation
Bureau of Land Management
Grub Reservoir in Montana provides a consistent source of water to control wildfires and has a riparian area that supports wildlife habitat and wildlife-dependent recreation. This project rehabilitated the Grub Dam’s aging infrastructure by removing and replacing an existing steel outlet works with a reinforced concrete outlet works. Properly functioning outlet works are crucial for the safety of the reservoir, as they allow for the controlled release of water from the dam. Degradation of the dam posed a serious safety risk for the staff and the recreating public, as well as a liability for damage to downstream access roads and grazing allotments. By rehabilitating the dam, this project mitigates future dam failure, protecting staff, residents, and local wildlife habitats.
Saratoga National Historical Park
National Park Service
Saratoga National Historical Park in New York State preserves the sites associated with the 1777 Battles of Saratoga, key turning points in the American Revolutionary War. The park’s main attraction is the Saratoga Battlefield Tour Road, which allows visitors to take a self-guided tour through the battlefield to learn about its most noteworthy spots. The Tour Road is over 50 years old and parking and walkways have cracked concrete that pose tripping hazards and unsafe walking conditions. This project restores and rehabilitates the park’s worn interpretive waysides, routes, parking, and walkways to provide universal accessibility along the Tour Road. Tour Road rehabilitation will improve the visitor experience, accessibility, and safety ahead of the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution in 2026.
Maintenance Action Team at Trustom Pond National Wildlife Refuge
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
The Trustom Pond National Wildlife Refuge, part of the Rhode Island National Wildlife Refuge Complex, contains 277 acres of wildlife habitat, including fields, shrublands, woodlands, fresh and saltwater ponds, and sandy beaches and dunes. A GAOA LRF-funded Maintenance Action Team (MAT) removed and replaced the refuge’s decaying pole barn with a new facility to house refuge boats and equipment. The team also graded and resurfaced the Otter Point Trail to provide Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)-compliant access along Farm Pond to the Otter Point lookout on Trustom Pond. These efforts, along with other MAT activities across the Rhode Island National Wildlife Refuge Complex, have made the refuge more welcoming to the visiting public and improved ADA accessibility.
Click an icon below to explore a bureau GAOA LRF website
