Visiting lawmakers look to tweak Great American Outdoors Act, which gives billions to parks

JACKSON — On Friday morning, the usual hubbub of the Jenny Lake plaza was supplanted by a different kind of spectacle.

Tourists with floppy straw hats dangling from backpacks were replaced by federal lawmakers in suit jackets and aviator sunglasses. With the Tetons as a backdrop, U.S. Rep. Harriet Hageman, R-Wyo., and five other members of the 45-person House Natural Resources Committee discussed ways to improve the Great American Outdoors Act, which sunsets at the end of this month and will need to be reauthorized.

More than $5 billion has been spent on deferred maintenance over the past five years, and about $23 billion of deferred maintenance projects remain.

The landmark bill, signed into law during the first Trump presidency, allocated $1.6 billion annually toward deferred maintenance on public lands for five fiscal years.

Gesturing back at Teewinot, the seven lawmakers avowed their commitment to public lands, waxing poetic about the sense of awe and adventure they inspire. Though there was bipartisan support among committee members for renewing the funding, there were differing opinions about how to improve the legislation to harness its full potential.

“I don’t think we have any option but to do it the best it can be done,” said Rep. Bruce Westerman, R-Ark., the chairman of the committee.

For dispatches from the ground, lawmakers heard testimony from Teton Park Superintendent Chip Jenkins; Jackson Hole EcoTour Adventures founder and owner Taylor Phillips; National Parks Conservation Association Vice President for Government Affairs Kristen Brengel; Grand Teton National Park Foundation President Leslie Mattson; and Jackson Hole Mountain Resort executive and Jackson Hole Travel and Tourism Board member Julie Calder.

The crowd of more than 100 people gathered to watch the committee was something of a who’s who of Jackson Hole, including business owners, nonprofit leaders, all five Teton County commissioners, Jackson Mayor Arne Jorgensen and state representatives.

Despite universal support for renewing funding, subtle divisions emerged between lawmakers. 

Republican lawmakers wanted to eliminate logistical hurdles like National Environmental Policy Act requirements so funding can be used more efficiently and increase transparency.

“Congress must enact reforms to ensure transparency, increase accountability and wisely steward taxpayer dollars,” Hageman said. There are also “significant concerns” that too much funding has been allocated to transportation projects, she said.

Witnesses pushed for increased staffing for public lands, arguing that funding is not effective without personnel to carry out projects.

“This tremendous loss of staff does not bode well for the next construction season or for the new list of projects under this law,” Brengel said, asking the committee to request that the Trump administration lift the hiring freeze for the National Park Service and prohibit a reduction in force.

Witnesses and lawmakers agreed on the need to modernize infrastructure and to anticipate future needs.

“The best way to address maintenance backlogs is to build things that are going to last for a long time,” Westerman said.

Jenkins spoke to the impact that deferred maintenance funding has had on Teton park. The park received $77.8 million for projects including Moose-Wilson Road improvements, wastewater upgrades at Colter Bay, correcting roof failures at park headquarters and rehabilitating cabins for housing.

“Our infrastructure is not always adequate for current visitation, let alone for increasing visitation,” he said.

These projects are necessary to protect visitor safety and make a difference for visitors to the park.

“These are more than just construction projects,” Jenkins said.

Without the large pot of funding, the Moose-Wilson Road improvements, which received $46 million for several upgrades including creating the Granite Canyon entrance station and an equestrian trailhead, would have had to be split up into six or eight projects that would have been completed over 10 or 12 years, Jenkins said. That would have been more expensive, taken longer and been more disruptive to visitors and residents.

Deferred maintenance funding “enabled us to package that together and to be so much more efficient in terms of getting those projects done,” he said.

Improvements to Moose-Wilson Road made a difference for EcoTour Adventures customers, Phillips said. Tours travel along the road for the last 10 miles of the 260-mile roundtrip to Yellowstone. The potholes and washboard road of yore was not a great note to end the day on, he said.

“The infrastructure improvement benefits the guest experience and it makes for happy customers,” he said.

The sorts of projects funded through the bill are unlikely to be supported by philanthropy, Mattson said. “I’m good at my job, but I’m not sure how effective I could be in raising funding for a failing sewer system.” 

Teton park needs to make substantial investments in infrastructure to be able to support the anticipated growth in visitation, Jenkins said. Additional projects of interest would include a “wholesale rejuvenation” of Colter Bay, increasing bicycle safety to the Gros Ventre Campground and improving pullouts such as Oxbow Bend, Willow Flats and the Snake River Overlook.

With improvements, the park could accommodate more people at Colter Bay, which currently has capacity for 10,000 to 11,000 daily visitors, Jenkins said.

“In order to be able to do that, we need to make sure that the toilets flush,” he said. “We need to make sure that people have places to park, that they have a park ranger to talk to to get their questions answered, and a place to be able to get lunch.”

As for improving efficiency of spending, there is room for improvement in the process when it comes to leveraging public-private partnerships and streamlining contracting and procurement processes, said Jenkins.

After the hearing, Hageman said that she has not yet identified the specifics of how she hopes to see the bill improved and that she is keen to work with Jenkins and other land managers to identify solutions.

“I’m always going to listen to the people on the ground in terms of what their needs are,” she said.

Hageman said she would have to hear more from Teton park about whether loss to staffing is getting in the way of modernization and improvements.

“I need to visit with Chip more about that,” she said. “I think reorganization, in a lot of ways, can be very good.”

This story was published on Sept. 6, 2025.