Protecting National Parks In Montana And Throughout The Country For Generations To Come

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Senator Steve Daines and Jeff Mow Monday, August 4th, 2025   9:37am  

While visits to our national parks are at an all-time high, the parks and their infrastructure are crumbling. Bridges and roads are in disrepair. Housing and wastewater infrastructure are unsustainable. In our own Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks the Lewis River Bridge, Old Faithful to West Thumb, Northeast Entrance Road, and Going-to-the-Sun Road are just some of the roads facing the need for ongoing repair.

These repairs were neglected for so long they have compounded and created other problems.

We started to address the problem when Senator Daines introduced the Great American Outdoors Act in 2020. President Trump signed it into law and it became the greatest conservation win for Montana and the country in 50 years. It represented a commitment to our public lands on par with the initiatives of President Theodore Roosevelt and created a dedicated line of funding via the Legacy Restoration Fund, which allowed us to address critical repair needs in national parks, forests, and other public lands. 

 To date, the Legacy Restoration Fund has successfully addressed billions of dollars in high-priority deferred maintenance and repair needs in our public lands in every state throughout the country. The successes have been far-reaching, stretching from Acadia to Glacier Bay, and covering a wide-range of projects from crumbling roads and trails to aging campgrounds and visitor centers. 

Partner organizations and volunteers donated countless hours each year and upwards of $570 million in private funds to leverage the federal investment in 2023.

It’s clear that local communities across the country, including many in Montana, have seen the benefits of investing in the maintenance of our public lands. Across all federal land management agencies, Legacy Restoration Fund projects support an estimated 20,000 jobs annually and have contributed more than $10 billion to the economy over the last five years.  There are nearly $200 million of investments in Montana spread across the National Park Service, Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management and Bureau of Indian Education.

This is further reinforced by the robust economic benefits from visitor tourism. In 2024, over 331 million visits generated $50.3 billion in economic activity and supported 378,000 jobs in national parks alone. However, to keep our parks functioning safely, more is needed. There is still $40 billion in deferred maintenance to address across the country.

The America the Beautiful Act is the next step in the process. Senator Daines recently introduced his bipartisan bill with Senator Angus King (I-ME). This legislation invests in our national parks and public lands, building on the progress we made five years ago.  It ensures that people can continue to experience the natural beauty we’re fortunate to have here in Montana and throughout the United States. It will protect our outdoor spaces, create good- paying jobs, and support investments in our local economies. It does this by reauthorizing the Legacy Restoration Fund while leveraging public donations and eliminating assets to further reduce the maintenance backlog.

In Montana, our public lands are a way of life, and we need to ensure that they are protected for generations to come. With the America the Beautiful Act we can do just that. 

 Steve Daines is a United States Senator from Montana. Jeff Mow is a former superintendent of Glacier National Park.