Why It Matters: Despite the popularity of America’s federal public lands, these treasured resources continue to face a growing maintenance backlog, which threatens access for sportsmen and women as well as conservation for fish and wildlife. By including $1.9 billion in the Fiscal Year 2027 budget request, President Trump is signaling his continued commitment to restoring the degraded infrastructure on our federal public lands.
Highlights:
- Recently, the White House released their Fiscal Year (FY2027) budget, which included a request for $1.9 billion annually for five years to address deferred maintenance on our federal public lands.
- In 2020, Congress passed the Great American Outdoors Act, a legacy bill that, in part, provided $1.9 billion per year of five years for the purposes of restoring infrastructure on federal public lands through the Legacy Restoration Fund (LRF)
- This budget request builds upon President Trump’s longstanding support, including calling for Congress to pass the 2020 Great American Outdoors Act.
The Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation (CSF) would like to thank President Trump for including the request of $1.9 billion annually over five years to provide necessary funding to restore degraded infrastructure on our federal public lands.
In 2020, CSF played a leading role in advocating for funding for deferred maintenance for federal agencies other than the National Park Service, including agencies of importance to sportsmen and women such as the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), U.S. Forest Service (USFW), and U.S. Fish and Wildlife (USFWS), which serve as critical places for sportsmen and women to hunt, fish, trap, and target shoot.
Congress is currently considering reauthorizing the Legacy Restoration Fund, through a CSF-supported bill known as the America the Beautiful Act. Collectively, federal land management agencies have a management backlog of roughly $40 billion. While the National Park Service has the largest backlog of roughly $23 billion, CSF is particularly focused on securing funding for the BLM, USFS, and USFWS given the important role they play for sportsmen’s access. This request in the FY27 budget is critical to ensure that Congress addresses this problem facing our public lands.
CSF is grateful to see the inclusion of a funding request for the Legacy Restoration Fund in the President’s budget request , and we look forward to seeing this effort become reality.