America’s largest investment in federal public lands is coming

The U.S. departments of Agriculture and the Interior announced the largest investment in federal public lands in more than half a century.

About $2.8 billion will be dispersed through the Great American Outdoors Act during fiscal year 2025, according to a news release earlier this month by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Designed as a bipartisan project to address maintenance backlog, the funds will be used to support projects bettering national forests and parks across the country.

There hasn’t been an investment to this magnitude across American public lands since the early 1960s, Cyrus Forman, public affairs officer for the Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forests, said. It’s evident, he added, as many park facilities were built during that era.

“These are enduring investments for great, really beloved infrastructure,” Forman said. “That will enable the public to experience their public lands.”

Forman said local recreation areas have benefitted from the funding.

The historic Lochsa Ranger Station was one of Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forest’s first projects, he added.

The station, located near Lowell, served as an administrative hub for a system of fire lookouts and smoke chaser cabins, operated between the ’20s to the late ’50s, according to the U.S. Forest Service’s website. It was dedicated as an interpretive site in 1976, and Forman said it’s one of the Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forest’s primary accessible historical sites.

Many structures at the compound received long-overdue repairs and restoration work in 2022, he said. Now, Forest Service employees and partners will focus on improving access to the site along with preserving the structures.

The aid will also support improvements to trails on the national forest, like the Lochsa River corridor along the Lochsa Downriver Trail #2. Forman said the trail, between Lochsa Ranger Station and Lowell, was used as a popular travel route along the river before U.S. Highway 12 was constructed.

He said funds will be used to maintain the trail, which includes clearing out the overgrowth, replacing bridges and making it overall more accessible.

Paradise Watercraft Ramp also received updates from the aid. Located at the Bitterroot National Forest near Hamilton, Mont., the ramp is a popular launch site for floaters along the Scenic Selway River, according to the U.S. Forest Service’s website. Selway River rafting permits are among the most sought-after in the country, Forman said. He added more than 10,000 applications are submitted each year, and only a small portion are granted permits.

The watercraft ramp, stairs and gear slide have deteriorated over time. Forman said in 2023 a newly designed ramp replaced the upper portion of the structure. Handrails, stairs and a gear slide were also installed, according to the U.S. Forest Service’s website.

Funds will support further improvements to increase the functionality and safety of the ramp for future use, Forman said.

In August 2020, the act established the National Parks and Public Land Legacy Restoration Fund, which authorized around $1.9 billion annually between fiscal years 2021-2025, according to the news release. The investment addresses around $8.6 billion worth of deferred maintenance for facilities and infrastructure in national parks and forests, national wildlife refuges, recreational areas and supports the Bureau of Indian Education-funded schools.

The act also finances the Land and Water Conservation Fund, providing $900 million each year to improve public access and recreational opportunities on public lands while protecting watersheds, wildlife and ecosystems, according to the news release.

Investments from the act work in tandem with President Joe Biden’s Investing in America agenda to strengthen the nation’s infrastructure, as well as the America the Beautiful initiative to restore and conserve a minimum of 30% of U.S. lands and waters by 2030, according to the U.S. Department of the Interior’s website.

For fiscal year 2025, the Department of Interior proposed 83 projects and the Department of Agriculture proposed 89 bundled projects across the nation, the District of Columbia and four U.S. territories, according to the news release.

These projects will support more than 20,000 jobs and contribute more than $2.5 billion to the economy, according to the news release.

Pearce can be reached at epearce@dnews.com.