Great American Outdoors Act National Parks and Public Land Legacy Restoration Fund Newsroom

The Great American Outdoors Act (GAOA) Legacy Restoration Fund is the driving force behind improvements to one of the National Park Service’s most iconic and popular roads. The $15 million, 18-month Skyline Drive preservation project repaired and restored 56 miles and 19 overlooks of the national historic landmark and national scenic byway that runs along the crest of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Shenandoah National Park.

On a tour of Mission San Juan and its farm fields, Director Sams saw first-hand how a recent Great American Outdoors Act (GAOA) Maintenance Action Team (MAT) project has helped restore the function of one of the park’s internationally significant, historic acequias. Youth crew members from the Texas Conservation Corps, who helped implement the preservation maintenance project, joined Director Sams in a demonstration of how the sluice gate irrigates the historic fields. This irrigation, or acequia, system continues flowing today after almost 300 years and was the lifeblood of the mission communities. The miles of acequias deliver the oldest water right in Texas, allowing the San Antonio Food Bank to operate the Spanish Colonial farmland that still feeds the community today.

Major improvements to the Bureau of Land Management-administered Gooseberry Badlands Scenic Overlook Trail west of Worland are complete. The project, funded by the Great American Outdoors Act, improves public access to the colorful desert, cliffs, hoodoos and pedestals of the Gooseberry Badlands.

The project, funded by the Great American Outdoors Act’s (GAOA) Legacy Restoration Fund, will help preserve the park’s landmark buildings and provide comfort for the almost five million people who visit them annually as the park prepares to for an influx of visitors associated with the upcoming 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 2026.

An important Revolutionary War site has improved access and opportunities to discover its historical and recreational features because of the Great American Outdoors Act (GAOA). In its ongoing commitment to preserving America's natural and cultural treasures, the National Park Service (NPS) Maintenance Action Team (MAT) program continues to take significant steps in addressing critical facility projects across small and medium-sized parks nationwide.

A National Park Service (NPS) preservation crew has been rehabilitating the Black Maria over the past two years. Funded by the Great American Outdoors Act (GAOA) at a cost of $161,218.03, the work performed by a maintenance action team (MAT) included floor, window and door repairs, new exterior sheathing, electrical upgrades, and a ramp for universal access.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park received approximately $11 million in funding from the Great American Outdoors Act Legacy Restoration Fund to rehabilitate a two-mile section of Newfound Gap Road near Gatlinburg. The rehabilitation project will include single-lane closures starting as early as April 15.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park, with funding from the Great American Outdoors Act Legacy Restoration Fund, will finish the approximate $15.7 million repair and rehabilitation of Lakeview Drive that started last year. Work will begin April 8 and is expected to end in early July.

Mammoth Cave National Park officials and invited guests gathered at The Lodge at Mammoth Cave on Friday, Mar. 22 to mark the completion of the Mammoth Cave Hotel Roof Replacement Project. The project was funded through the Great American Outdoors Act (GAOA) Legacy Restoration Fund and fixed major structural issues with the park’s main hotel building.

During a visit to Gateway Arch National Park, Secretary Haaland announced a new $17 million investment from GAOA that will enable the park to continue restoration of the Old Courthouse — the site of the first two trials of the pivotal Dred Scott case in 1847 and 1850 — which will help restore the upper floors and exterior of the building. At the completion of the project, the Old Courthouse will have improved accessibility that will allow more visitors to visit this historic place, modernized utilities that will improve the visitor experience, and new exhibits that will tell a fuller story of the Dred Scott case and its impacts on American history.