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

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.

Many who love the National Park Service are making plans to celebrate the anniversary of the Great American Outdoors Act (GAOA) on Sunday, Aug. 4, 2024. Glen Canyon National Recreation Area (Glen Canyon) will join national parks nationwide by providing free park entrance on that day. The fee waiver includes entrance fees only. Other fees such as camping, tours, concession and fees collected by third parties are not included in the fee waiver.

As the 100th anniversary of the stately Ahwahnee hotel in Yosemite National Park approaches, an approximately $35 million seismic strengthening project funded by the Great American Outdoors Act is well underway, with a completion date set for winter 2024.

The Tour Road Improvement Project is complete! Learn about the new resources and features available as well as the funding that made this project possible. On May 29, 2024 Saratoga NHP hosted a grand opening of all the new wayside exhibits and paths at the tour stops.

This summer, Hampton National Historic Site will begin to rehabilitate many of its significant historic structures with funding from the Great American Outdoors Act (GAOA) Legacy Restoration Fund. The restoration of the buildings and historic landscape will increase the park's ability to share the complex history of Hampton and the enslaved, indentured, and free people who lived and labored there.

The Departments of the Interior and Agriculture announced a proposed investment of $2.8 billion in fiscal year 2025 through the Great American Outdoors Act (GAOA) to protect and sustain our public lands and Bureau of Indian Education (BIE)-funded schools. Proposed projects will occur in all 50 U.S. states, Washington D.C., and multiple U.S. territories.

One of Mount Rainier National Park’s most scenic roads has reopened after an extensive $43-million, two-year rehabilitation project funded by the Great American Outdoors Act Legacy Restoration Fund. The project repaired and restored nine miles of the iconic Stevens Canyon Road, which travels through the heart of the park and offers visitors breathtaking views of the rugged alpine landscape.

The renovation, which included $1 million from the Great American Outdoors Act, represents a best-in-class example of a net-zero emissions building: it is all-electric, it meets the Biden-Harris Administration’s Federal Building Performance Standard by eliminating the on-site use of fossil fuels, and it is highly efficient, having reduced the facility’s energy consumption by 73 percent thanks to new windows, doors, siding, insulation, roofing, and heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems.

Yosemite National Park’s popular Crane Flat Campground is welcoming visitors for the first time in four years thanks to a $9.8 million investment from the Great American Outdoors Act (GAOA). The funding enabled the long-needed modernization of a campground that had not seen upgrades since 1962.

This project will repair and seismically strengthen the concrete wharf on Alcatraz Island, a contributing feature of the Alcatraz Island National Historic Landmark District, with funding from the Great American Outdoors Act (GAOA). Work will repair the historic, steel-cased concrete piles, concrete beams, and concrete slabs, all of which are in fair to poor condition with varying degrees of damage. Two new seismic resisting elements will improve the ability to withstand the demands of its location in the San Francisco Bay.