Outdoor Recreation Roundtable (ORR) members, including the RV Industry Association, recently praised the Senate for introducing a bipartisan bill, the Great American Outdoors Act, which prioritizes the $12 billion maintenance backlog facing U.S. national parks and fully funds the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF).
Inclusion of the Restore Our Parks Act (ROPA) would help to improve key outdoor recreation related facilities like docks, restrooms, campgrounds, trails, roads and more in national parks.
LWCF funds can be a lifeline for communities in need of recreation access to local, state and national parks, wildlife habitats, working forests and more. This program has only been funded at the full authorized amount of $900 million twice in history. This bill would achieve the decades-long goal of fully and permanently funding LWCF into the future while allowing for more recreation access projects on local, state and federal lands that will support a thriving outdoor recreation economy for years to come.
“Today is a huge step for outdoor recreationists, the industry and the $778 billion outdoor recreation economy,” said Jessica Wahl, executive director of the Outdoor Recreation Roundtable. “We have supported these issues for a long time and are thrilled to see movement on them as they will help to further fuel the outdoor recreation economy across the country. We appreciate the sponsors’ dedication to these bills and will continue to work with them with the hope to gain additional support for infrastructure needs at other agencies, such as BLM, USFS, and FWS.”
“The Restore Our Parks Act offers innovative solutions and sustainable funding that will address the deferred-maintenance backlog on federal lands, which is critical to improving and expanding national campgrounds,” said RVIA President Craig Kirby. “Campgrounds on federal lands are currently showing distressing signs of wear: crumbling roads and bridges; deferred maintenance needs; and limited camping availability, jeopardizing not only the RV industry but the entire outdoor recreation industry. We are encouraged by the support of this legislation and ask Congress to pass this bill without delay.”
“Today marks a milestone achievement for the Outdoor Industry Association and outdoor enthusiasts across the country,” said Executive Director of Outdoor Industry Association Lise Aangeenbrug. “Our shared public lands and waters are the foundation of the huge and growing outdoor recreation economy, and we are thrilled to see our elected officials coming together in a bi-partisan way to deliver on full funding for LWCF and to commit sustainable funding to address the maintenance backlogs in our national parks. Both of these efforts will go a long way in continuing to grow the outdoor economy and assisting our continued effort to get more Americans into the outdoors.”
