Legislation calls for $800 million investment in U.S. National Wildlife Refuge infrastructure

The America the Beautiful Act introduced by Sens. Steve Daines (R-Mont.) and Angus King (I-Maine) on May 1 would reauthorize the Legacy Restoration Fund to invest $2 billion over the next eight years in critical infrastructure for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Park Service, Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, as well as the Bureau of Indian Education.

The funding reauthorization builds on the significant work done over the past five years as part of Daines’s leadership under the Great American Outdoors Act in 2020. America the Beautiful Act legislation was co-sponsored by Sens. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), Mark Warner (D-Va.), Tim Sheehy (R-Mont.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), and John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.).

“Duck hunters have been amongst the first to notice the consequences of failing infrastructure in our National Wildlife Refuge System and on our other public lands. It has impacted the quality of their hunts as well as the ability to manage habitat for migrating ducks and geese,” said Jason Tharpe, chief executive officer of Delta Waterfowl. “We believe that having our refuges and other public lands working well is important to ensuring the historic distribution of ducks. And we have made addressing the needs of refuges for ducks and duck hunters one of our top policy priorities. We sincerely appreciate the leadership of Sens. Daines and King in addressing this need in the America the Beautiful Act.”

The U.S. National Wildlife Refuge System currently has a $2.6 billion deferred maintenance backlog. Properly working water control structures, pumps, dikes, and other assets are critical to maintain the high-quality habitat that is so crucial for ducks and duck hunters alike.

In 2020, Delta and our partners at Ducks Unlimited quantified the magnitude of the infrastructure needs on priority waterfowl refuges back as part of the lead up to the Great American Outdoors Act. President Trump signed the Act into law in August 2020.

The America the Beautiful Act would invest $800 million in refuge infrastructure.

“We look forward to working with the sponsors, co-sponsors and other members of the Senate and their colleagues in the House of Representatives to see these important investments made on our public lands,” said John Devney, Delta’s chief policy officer. “Our refuges and other public lands are more important than ever to provide important habitat and also places for those special hunts each fall.”

Delta Waterfowl is The Duck Hunters Organization, a leading conservation group working to produce ducks and secure the future of waterfowl hunting in North America. Visit deltawaterfowl.org.

For more information, contact John Devney at jdevney@deltawaterfowl.org.