Public lands advocate urges lawmakers to pass bipartisan America the Beautiful Act

Aaron Weiss

Submitted photo/Center for Western Priorities

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OPINION — The U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources on Wednesday, June 17 advanced S.1547, the America the Beautiful Act.

The bill was unanimously reported out of committee by a bipartisan voice vote and now advances to the full Senate. If passed by both chambers and signed into law, the legislation would reauthorize the Great American Outdoors Act and the Legacy Restoration Fund.

This is long overdue. Americans across the political spectrum have consistently called for protecting our treasured parks and public lands and fully funding and staffing the agencies that care for them.

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins did the right thing supporting this bill to direct funding and address critical maintenance concerns on public lands, but it is truly the very least they could do.

Now it’s time they start repairing the damage they’ve caused over the last 18 months. The Trump administration must fully staff and fund the agencies that steward our parks and public lands for present and future generations. That means all of our lands, for all Americans — not just the president's vanity projects.

Aaron Weiss is deputy director of the Center for Western Priorities, a conservation policy and advocacy organization focused on land and energy issues across the American West. Please submit comments at yourvalley.net/letters or email them to AzOpinions@iniusa.org. We are committed to publishing a wide variety of reader opinions, as long as they meet our Civility Guidelines.