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

Mammoth Cave National Park officials and invited guests gathered inside Mammoth Cave today to mark the completion of a one-year project to rehabilitate approximately one mile of cave trail. The project was funded through the Great American Outdoors Act (GAOA) and has made significant improvements to cave infrastructure for visitor safety, tour experience, and natural and cultural resource protection inside Mammoth Cave.

Secretary Haaland also visited Rocky Mountain National Park, where she toured several projects funded by the Great America Outdoors Act to improve recreational access for park visitors. The park is receiving nearly $20 million from the Act to rehabilitate water, wastewater and electrical distribution systems and improve accessibility, address fire risk, and modernize the Moraine Park Campground.

Using funding from the Great American Outdoors Act, a crew of skilled tradesfolk from the National Park Service's Historic Preservation Training Center are working on preserving one of the mooring keys at Pearl Harbor.

On Wednesday, August 16, 2023, the Texas Conservation Corps/SAAN Acequia Crew and the San Antonio River Authority worked together at San Antonio Missions National Historical Park to relocate Sagittaria plants from the Mission San Juan acequia to the San Antonio River for habitat restoration. Great American Outdoors Act (GAOA) Maintenance Action Teams (MAT) like this one are making a difference in hundreds of national parks. 

The National Parks of Boston will begin the more than $30 million restoration of Dorchester Heights Monument on September 15. Funded by the Great American Outdoors Act (GAOA), rehabilitation work will be complete prior to March 17, 2026, Evacuation Day, during the nation’s 250th birthday year. The Monument and its surrounding area will remain closed to the public during the restoration.

On a warm, early-September morning on the coast of Rhode Island, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Director Martha Williams took in the view of Second Beach and the Atlantic Ocean. She was standing on a new, ADA-accessible platform made possible by a team of Service maintenance professionals from around the country funded by the Great American Outdoors Act . It’s one of nearly 100 such projects completed in the three years since the act passed. 

Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland today visited three sites across New Mexico to highlight how federal investments are helping improve infrastructure on public lands, invest in local economies, and ensure that public lands are ready to meet the challenges of climate change. During her visits to Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, Socorro Nature Area, and Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge, Secretary Haaland highlighted how the Great American Outdoors Act (GAOA) and other federal investments are investing millions of dollars towards infrastructure projects to ensure that visitors can continue to enjoy our public lands for generations to come.

The Great American Outdoors Act (GAOA) National Parks and Public Land Legacy Restoration Fund is providing $112.76 million to the National Park Service for a contract to rehabilitate the failing seawalls around a portion of the Tidal Basin and along the Potomac River through West Potomac Park.

As the National Park Service (NPS) celebrates its 107th birthday, Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks Shannon Estenoz traveled to Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Tennessee today to highlight investments from President Biden’s Investing in America agenda and the Great American Outdoors Act (GAOA). During her visit, Assistant Secretary Estenoz also underscored the role of America’s national parks as significant drivers of national and local economies and job sustainability. These historic investments are enabling the Department of the Interior to deploy unprecedented funding to address overdue maintenance and repairs and meet critical ecosystem resilience, restoration and environmental planning needs.

Deputy Secretary of the Interior Tommy Beaudreau and Senior Advisor to the President and White House Infrastructure Implementation Coordinator Mitch Landrieu were in Alaska this week to highlight how historic resources from President Biden’s Investing in America agenda are supporting Tribal communities impacted by climate change and advancing co-stewardship and salmon conservation across the Yukon, Kuskokwim and Norton Sound Region.