Passage of a $1 trillion package to improve the country's infrastructure and gird it against climate-change impacts has gained wide praise from environmental and conservation organizations/Rebecca Latson file

Editor's note: Measures to create a Civilian Climate Corps and to cancel the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge oil and gas leasing program were not part of the infrastructure package, but are currently contained in the reconciliation measure awaiting Congress' action. 

From improved roads and bridges and greater wildlife connectivity to healthier watersheds and climate-change mitigation projects, the $1 trillion infrastructure package passed by Congress figures to reach into many corners of the National Park System.

Funding will be available for projects designed to reduce collisions between vehicles and wildlife, pay for reconstruction of such roads as the Tioga Road through Yosemite National Park, and invest in wildlife habitat improvements.

"Congress demonstrated a common ground commitment to repairing America’s infrastructure, including in our national parks and surrounding communities," National Parks Conservation Association President Theresa Pierno said Friday night after Congress passed the infrastructure package and sent it to President Joe Biden for his signature. "This major legislative victory supports communities as they recover from the ongoing pandemic, while also building back and strengthening park roads, bridges, transit, and water systems in the face of climate change.

“This investment in America is also an investment in our 423 national parks. The Great Smoky Mountains need bridge repairs and efforts to keep black bears and drivers safe along the popular Pigeon River Gorge roadway," added Pierno. "In Denali, the climate crisis has created impassible landslides on the road that leads into the heart of the park, requiring innovative solutions with a multimillion-dollar price-tag. And investing in a new shuttle service to Pullman National Monument on Chicago’s Southside will connect people with parks and support local tourism."

Passage of the legislation after Congress in 2020 agreed to send $6.5 billion into the park system over five years to tackle deferred maintenance stands to provide the biggest one-two infusion of funds ever into a park system that has struggled to keep up with mounting maintenance needs and which is increasingly challenged by climate-change impacts.

The measure's passage also focuses a light on Charles F. Sams' nomination to be director of the National Park Service. During his confirmation hearing last month in the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, some senators questioned how the Park Service was deciding where best to spend $1.3 billion a year it is receiving to tackle the maintenance backlog.

During the hearing Sen. Steve Daines, R-Montana, asked Sams, if he is confirmed, to see that the funding is "distributed fairly among the parks and the states, no matter their location or their size."

The fairness of how the Park Service is spending Great American Outdoor Act funding was also raised by Sen. Mike Lee, a Utah Republican who pointed out that Virginia, North Carolina, and New York, three states with miniscule amounts of federal lands, were receiving many millions more of GAOA dollars than is Utah, a state where he said the federal government owns 66-67 percent of the landscape and where national parks are struggling with maintenance issues.

For Sams, if he is confirmed by the full Senate to be Park Service director, the money contained in the infrastructure package presents a unique opportunity to oversee sweeping improvements in the park system while also ensuring that the funds are equitably invested in small and large units of the system. 

Those watching Congress' construction of the infrastructure package said it would bring the following funds and initiatives into the parks and other public lands:

• $350 million to reduce wildlife-vehicle collisions and support enhanced connectivity to help animals adapt to the changing climate. Each year an estimated 1-2 million collisions with large species results in close to 30,000 human injuries and hundreds of fatalities. These accidents add up to $8 billion in costs to motorists.
• $1.4 billion so visitors can better access the park system and other public lands, through the Federal Lands Access Program. Such transportation investments can also reduce emissions as well as congestion in some of the most visited parks.
• $3.2 billion for aquatic ecosystem restoration projects and ecosystem restoration programs in the Great Lakes, Chesapeake Bay, and Delaware Basin to restore and better protect the waterways and surrounding communities from intensifying climate-change threats.
• $355 million a year for large repair projects by federal land management agencies and tribes. Park benefits could include reconstruction of the Grand Loop Road in Yellowstone and Tioga Pass in Yosemite National Park.
• $35 billion in wastewater, stormwater, and drinking water infrastructure investments to help improve water quality across America, including within national park boundaries and park-adjacent communities.
• Significant investments in programs aimed at enhancing the resiliency of Western watersheds to climate change and drought, including $300 million to implement the Colorado River Drought Contingency Plans, $3.2 billion to modernize aging agricultural infrastructure and generate benefits for fish and wildlife, and $50 million to support ongoing Endangered Species recovery efforts that sustain habitat for native fish.

“Making this commitment to our nation’s land, water, and wildlife signals that lawmakers understand the relationship between infrastructure and natural resources,” said Whit Fosburgh, president and CEO of the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership. “The provisions within this comprehensive package are not only worth the investment as we think about the future—many are long overdue. We look forward to President Biden signing and enacting this legislation that makes a strong commitment to conservation.”

At the Chesapeake Conservancy, President and CEO Joel Dunn said the infusion of funds created a "now or never" opportunity to address critical environmental needs at a time of climate crisis.

“Water is life, and access to clean water is among our most basic human rights. The Chesapeake Bay is our region’s most important natural resource and, as such, the fundamental piece of infrastructure from which everything else flows," said Dunn. "This is a now-or-never moment. Global climate change is putting life as we know it at risk. This significant funding for the Chesapeake Bay Program, $238 million over five years, helps give everyone on the local, state and federal level the tools they need to help mitigate impending climate impacts and restore the health of the Chesapeake."

Also praising the funding package was the Outdoor Recreation Roundtable, where President Jessica Wahl Turner said it carries $100 million for outdoor recreation infrastructure support.

"This infrastructure package provides an opportunity to not only rebuild our crumbling roads, bridges and airports, but also to improve the infrastructure behind our beloved public lands and waters," she said. "Meaningful investments in transportation, public lands, rural development, and natural infrastructure connect more people to the outdoors and strengthen the outdoor recreation economy. This creates new jobs, helps the U.S. remain globally competitive, and ensures we recover from the impacts the pandemic has had on businesses, local communities, our health, and our quality of life."

Back at NPCA, Pierno said the package represents a "landmark investment in a way that helps curb climate pollution, prioritizes resilient infrastructure, and protects our wildlife and their homes."

“We must build upon today’s investment in America, by acting on the climate crisis that is wreaking havoc on our communities and our public lands. Through the upcoming reconciliation process, Congress must make crucial progress towards a carbon-free future by investing in climate resiliency and clean energy programs," she said.

Depending on how Congress treats the reconciliation bill, parks could benefit more through a Civilian Climate Corps to mobilize the next generation of conservation and resilience workers. A provision in that bill also would cancel the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge oil and gas leasing program and nullifies existing leases.