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Congressional Research Service
Informing the legislative debate since 1914
January 30, 2025
The Great American Outdoors Act (GAOA): Frequently Asked
Questions
What Is the Great American Outdoors Act
(GAOA)?
The Great American Outdoors Act (GAOA; P.L. 116-152)
established in the U.S. Treasury a new fund-the National
Parks and Public Land Legacy Restoration Fund (LRF)-
with mandatory spending authority to address deferred
maintenance (DM) needs of five federal agencies. These
agencies are the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE), Bureau
of Land Management (BLM), National Park Service (NPS),
and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), all in the
Department of the Interior (DOI), and the U.S. Forest
Service (FS), in the Department of Agriculture.
The GAOA also made changes to an existing fund-the
Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF). The GAOA
made $900.0 million in deposits to the LWCF available as
mandatory spending. It also made other changes to the
LWCF Act (54 U.S.C. §§200301 et seq.).
Does the GAOA Exp e?
Under current law, the LRF (the new fund established in the
GAOA) is to receive funding through FY2025. Provisions
of the GAOA pertaining to the LWCF do not expire.
How Much Funding Did the GAOA Provide for the
LRF?
The GAOA provided for the LRF to receive up to $1.9
billion annually over five years (FY2021-FY2025). More
specifically, the fund receives annual deposits equivalent to
50% of all federal energy development revenues (from oil,
gas, coal, or renewable energy) credited in the preceding
fiscal year as miscellaneous receipts to the Treasury, up to
an annual $1.9 billion cap. For each of FY2021-FY2024,
the maximum amount was deposited in the fund. Reported
federal energy revenues for FY2024 suggest that the
FY2025 deposit also would reach the cap, in which case the
five-year total to address DM across the five agencies (BIE,
BLM, NPS, FWS, and FS) would be $9.5 billion.
How Is DM Def ned?
In a 2024 handbook, the Federal Accounting Standards
Advisory Board defines deferred maintenance and repairs
(DM&R) as maintenance and repairs that were not
performed when they should have been or were scheduled
to be and which are put off or delayed for a future period.
Agencies and Members of Congress often refer to DM&R
as deferred maintenance (DM, as used herein) or as the
maintenance backlog. Agencies generally consider DM
separately from other types of maintenance (e.g., day-to-
day, cyclic, or emergency) when tracking maintenance
needs.
How Are LRF Funds Alocated Among Agencies?
The GAOA states that, of the amounts deposited in the fund
each year, NPS receives a 70% share, FS 15%, FWS 5%,
BLM 5%, and BIE 5% (for BIE schools). The agencies
must use the funding for priority deferred maintenance
projects. Over the full period of FY2021-FY2025, at least
65% of each agency's funds are to be allocated for non-
transportation projects (54 U.S.C. §200402(e)).
To allocate the funds, the GAOA generally directs the
President to submit lists of priority DM projects to
Congress with annual budget justifications. The law
specifies that appropriations acts may provide an alternate
allocation under the percentages defined for each agency
(54 U.S.C. §200402(i)). For FY2021-FY2024, annual
appropriations laws for Interior, Environment, and Related
Agencies and the accompanying explanatory statements
allocated the funding to specific DM projects. In general,
these allocations have matched those that had been
proposed by the Administration, although there have been
exceptions. Full-year appropriations for FY2025 had not
been enacted as of January 29, 2025.
Does the LRF Affect Energy Revenue Payments to
States or Other Federa Funds?
The GAOA explicitly provides that LRF deposits shall not
affect the disposition of energy revenues due to states, trust
funds, or special funds (e.g., the LWCF and the Historic
Preservation Fund [HPF], 54 U.S.C. §303102). It separately
provides that such deposits shall not affect revenues
otherwise appropriated under federal law, including
appropriations from the LWCF and HPF and under the Gulf
of Mexico Energy Security Act (GOMESA; 43 U.S.C.
§1331 note) and the Mineral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. §191).
What Impact Has the LRF Had on Agency DM?
The impact of the LRF on DM is not clear for a variety of
reasons. One is that estimates of DOI DM are current only
as of FY2023, although the FS estimate is current as of
FY2024. Agency estimates show that DM for BLM, FS,
FWS, and NPS-the four main federal land management
agencies-increased by approximately $14.5 billion (56%)
in current dollars from FY2020 to FY2023.
Another reason is that the DM estimates are not consistent
over time. This is because agencies have changed methods
for assessing the condition of assets and estimating DM
(e.g., for transportation assets). Additionally, the accuracy
of some agency data has been called into question. For
instance, reports by the DOI Office of Inspector General in
2023 and 2024 noted inaccuracies in DM data maintained
by NPS and BIE.](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.crs/goveshi0001&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)