Originally published by Channel 8 News Now July 23, 2020
WASHINGTON, D.C. (KLAS) — The Great American Outdoors Act passed both the House and the Senate with support from both parties.
This bill passed with a 310 to 107 vote and approved financing the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) permanently as well as, establish the National Parks and Public Land Legacy Restoration Fund to support the maintenance of federal public lands.
This bipartisan act is a victory for national parks and public lands like Southern Nevada’s Red Rock Canyon.
The funds must be used for priority deferred maintenance projects that are administered by:
- the National Park Service,
- the Forest Service,
- the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service,
- the Bureau of Land Management, and
- the Bureau of Indian Education
The environmental protection group “Save Red Rock” was overjoyed with Congress’ decision and expressed this in a video, shown below.
“This bill will give approximately $4 million annually to conservation projects in Nevada alone…We believe that the private parcels within the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation area would rank strongly for purchase with these funds.”
Nevada congressional representatives like Senator Jacky Rosen and Rep. Susie Lee also commented on the passing of the Great American Outdoors Act
The National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) has been fighting to protect America’s national parks for over a century and also celebrated the decision:
Other US representatives also posted to Twitter with messages of their support of the bill:
The piece of legislation had passed the Senate floor on June 17. The late Congressman John Lewis sponsored the bill back in March of last year.
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