Interior Secretary Deb Haaland wrapped up visits to Wyoming and Yellowstone National Park last week.
During her visit to Yellowstone National Park, Secretary Haaland highlighted how the Great American Outdoors Act (GAOA) is making significant investments in park infrastructure, creating jobs, and supporting local economies.
“Nature is essential to the health, well-being, and prosperity of every family and community in America. As we experience record visitation at parks and public lands across the country, now is the time to make the investments in our lands and waters that are long overdue,” Haaland said. “The Great American Outdoors Act is bipartisanship at its best, and it is through federal investments and state, Tribal, and local partnerships that we can be stewards of these lands for generations to come.”
In Yellowstone alone, the park is investing $121.5 million from the Act’s Legacy Restoration Fund to rehabilitate 22 miles of the Grand Loop Road between Old Faithful and West Thumb, replace the Lewis River Bridge, rehabilitate and reconfigure a historic dormitory at Old Faithful, and complete historic building restoration at Fort Yellowstone. The GAOA investments in the park’s infrastructure in 2021 alone are expected to support nearly 1,600 jobs and contribute $333.9 million to the nation’s economy.
Earlier, Haaland met with Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon and local leaders on the Wind River Reservation. The Interior Department and Agriculture Department announced support for the state’s wildlife migration strategy.
“Wyoming is a great model for how to advance collaborative, proactive work to conserve and restore important wildlife habitat and migration corridors,” Haaland said.
The agencies announced $2 million in grants, through the Improving Habitat Quality in Western Big Game Migration Corridors and Habitat Connectivity program, for projects in the West that enhance and improve the quality of state- or Tribal-identified priority big-game habitat, stopover areas and migration corridors on federal land, or voluntary efforts on private and Tribal land.
Over the past three years, the grant program awarded more than $9 million to 40 projects on public and private lands across the West.
