Final Push to Pass the Great American Outdoors Act

PHOTO: Valles Caldera National Preserve, Photo Credit: Grayson Schaffer.

Dear Friend,

We are closer than ever to passing the Great American Outdoors Act, bipartisan legislation that I helped write to permanently and fully fund the Land and Water Conservation Fund and improve access and visitor experience to all our public lands for generations to come.

On Monday, this landmark conservation bill cleared a major hurdle in the Senate by a vote of 80-17 with strong bipartisan support. We expect a vote on final passage by the full Senate in the coming days. It took years of advocacy from the conservation community, the outdoor industry, and engagement from everyone who loves our public lands to get to this point.

I hope you can take a moment to watch and share the speech I just delivered on the Senate Floor about why this historic legislation is so important.

VIDEO: U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich delivers a floor speech on the Great American Outdoors Act, June 9, 2020.

During these past months, in the midst of a pandemic that has kept most of us inside our homes, Americans have grown to appreciate in new ways how critical each moment of fresh air can be to maintaining both our physical health and mental wellbeing. But far too many people don't have easy access to parks or open spaces.

According to the Trust for Public Land, more than 100 million Americans, including 28 million children, do not have access to a park within a 10-minute walk of home. Fully funding the Land and Water Conservation Fund is one of the best ways for us to fix that. In addition to opening up public access to treasured landscapes like the Valles Caldera National Preserve, Ute Mountain, and Valle de Oro National Wildlife Refuge, LWCF also funds the creation of recreation areas, neighborhood parks, and sports fields.

In the wake of our current economic crisis, rebuilding critical infrastructure in our parks and public lands will also provide tens of thousands of new jobs across our country. It's estimated that investing in fixing the National Park Service's infrastructure alone could generate nearly 110,000 new jobs. These investments will also grow the outdoor recreation economy and provide us all with more opportunities to get outside.

There is so much work we need to do to rebuild our country. In the midst of a real national reckoning on race over these recent weeks, and as we continue to face the most severe economic and public health crises in generations, we should all be thinking about how we can rebuild our country in a way that includes all of us. I firmly believe that this urgent goal is intertwined with our effort this week in the Senate to grow opportunities in our great outdoors.

These are the places where all of us belong. These lands are our lands, and they heal us in a way few things can. I think of all the generations of Americans who've cared for these places so that my family and I can enjoy them and learn from them today. With this historic legislation, the Great American Outdoors Act, we are going to help do our part to literally pay that forward.