Grand Teton National Park will host a congressional hearing today on renewed funding for a law providing for maintenance on public lands.
The Great American Outdoors Act, which passed with bipartisan support during the first Trump administration, is up for reauthorization.
Emily Douce, deputy vice president of government affairs for the National Parks Conservation Association, said it has funneled more than $6.5 billion to national parks to fix a range of issues.
“A lot of these facilities, whether it’s a visitor center, or waste or drinking water systems, or trails, or campgrounds, they were built about 60 years ago, and they need an upgrade,” Douce contended.
Over the past few years, crews at Grand Teton have repaved roads, reconstructed a bridge, improved the wastewater system and upgraded parking areas. Nationwide, the projects employ around 17,000 people.
National parks attract more than 330 million tourists, contribute more than $55 billion in economic output and support 415,000 private sector jobs each year.
Douce stressed the Trump administration’s extensive cuts to the Park Service workforce this year are making it difficult to manage maintenance projects.
“Twenty-four percent of permanent employees have been let go since January,” Douce pointed out. “It is important for this work to continue. This progress will likely be compromised if the staff don’t get replaced and the reductions in force go forward.”
Wyoming is the third-largest recipient of funding from the National Parks and Public Legacy Restoration Fund, established as part of the Great American Outdoors Act. The fund handles deferred maintenance at the National Park Service, the U.S. Forest Service, The Fish and Wildlife Service, the Bureau of Land Management and the Bureau of Indian Education.