Great American Outdoors Act National Parks and Public Land Legacy Restoration Fund Newsroom

National Park Service Director Chuck Sams finished a multi-day trip to Voyageurs National Park in Minnesota and Apostle Islands National Lakeshore in Wisconsin where he met with Tribal nations, reviewed large-scale infrastructure repair and improvement projects funded by the landmark Great American Outdoors Act (GAOA), and celebrated the NPS birthday with park staff and visitors on August 25.

Construction began today on a major project to replace the sinking seawalls around the Tidal Basin and along the Potomac River in West Potomac Park. The Great American Outdoors Act Legacy Restoration Fund is providing approximately $113 million for a long-needed restoration of the seawalls and sidewalks of one of the country’s most iconic landscapes.

Death Valley National Park repaired three water system breaks during July 2024, which was the park’s hottest month on record. Fortunately, the Great American Outdoors Act will provide approximately $62 million next year to complete critical upgrades to the park's largest water and wastewater infrastructure systems, which are in the Furnace Creek area.

Fort Pulaski National Monument recently completed a critical $300,000 project funded by the Great American Outdoors Act (GAOA) that rehabilitated the historic fort’s iconic brickwork and ventilation systems. To commemorate the four-year anniversary of GAOA on August 4, Fort Pulaski will join national parks throughout the country in offering free entrance that day.

On August 4, 2024, the Department of the Interior celebrates four years of the Great American Outdoors Act’s (GAOA) success and impact across the country with a fee-free day on public lands. Over the past four years, this landmark Law has funded critical infrastructure investments on public lands, from restoring the historic Saratoga Battlefield Tour Road in New York to improving pedestrian and vehicle access to the diverse ecosystems of Kenai National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska.

The Bureau of Land Management Las Cruces District continues to make progress toward the completion of a water and utilities project at Apache Dam through money received via the Great American Outdoors Act. This $140,000 Apache Dam repair project will focus on downstream embankment repairs and implementing a new trash rack to stop clogging and concrete repairs at the outlet and the secondary spillway. The Dam was built for irrigational and flood control purposes and over years of neglect in upkeep, repairs were warranted to prevent an overtopping event.

Andersonville National Historic Site would like to wish a happy fourth anniversary to the Great American Outdoors Act! The Great American Outdoors Act (GAOA) is a significant investment that is reducing the burden of backlogged maintenance and repair projects in national parks. In honor of the anniversary, National Park sites that have fees will have a Fee Free Day on Sunday August 4. This does not apply to Andersonville National Historic Site; we are always a fee free park!

The Great American Outdoors Act (GAOA) is making a huge difference by funding over $6 billion in maintenance and repair projects in national parks throughout the country. On August 4, all National Park Service entrance fees will be waived to celebrate the 4-year anniversary of the historic legislation, one of six entrance fee-free days in 2024.

On Sunday, August 4, the Department of the Interior will commemorate the four-year anniversary of the signing of the Great American Outdoors Act (GAOA) by waiving entrance fees at all lands managed by the Department. Other fees, such as overnight camping, cabin rentals, group day use and use of special areas, remain in effect. The GAOA is a bipartisan investment that improves visitor experiences, bolsters climate resilience and invests in the economy by creating good-paying jobs in our national parks, wildlife refuges, recreation areas and Bureau of Indian Education (BIE)-funded schools.

Acting Deputy Secretary of the Interior Laura Daniel-Davis traveled to Massachusetts this week to highlight investments from President Biden’s Investing in America agenda and the Great American Outdoors Act (GAOA). Together, these historic investments are enabling the Interior Department to deploy unprecedented funding to address overdue maintenance and repairs and meet critical ecosystem resilience, restoration and environmental planning needs.