Montana Sen. Steve Daines last week urged Congress to pass the America the Beautiful Act, which addresses maintenance backlogs in national forests and national parks like Glacier National Park.

The bill reauthorizes funding for the Legacy Restoration Fund, building on 2020’s Great American Outdoors Act. The bill made it through the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on June 17.

It increases funding nationwide for maintenance backlogs from $1.9 billion to $2 billion annually through 2033.

Daines, a Republican, and Angus King, an independent from Maine, are co-sponsors of the bill. The bill does have some caveats, however. For example, the funding cannot be used to remove or decommission an existing road. It also codifies charging foreign visitors to national parks. Those fees were hiked substantially in 2026.

In addition, the funding cannot be used to acquire additional lands.

“The America the Beautiful Act is one of the greatest conservation wins of our time, and I’m thrilled to see it pass out of committee today with widespread bipartisan support. As we look forward to America’s 250th anniversary, what better way to celebrate our national parks, the crown jewels of America, than by signing America the Beautiful into law? Let’s get it to the President’s desk,” Daines said in a release.  

The Park Service alone has a maintenance backlog of $23.26 billion and the Forest Service a backlog of $8.695 billion, according to the senators.

The bill has broad bi-partisan support.

In Glacier, the Great American Outdoors Act funding was used for several projects, including a new bridge over McDonald Creek, rebuilding portions of the Going-to-the-Sun Road, upgrading the water system in Park headquarters and upgrading the water system at Swiftcurrent in Many Glacier, which also included rebuilding and redesigning the parking lot and road in the Swiftcurrent Valley.

The park has plenty of projects in the wings as well, including replacing the parkwide communication infrastructure, upgrading the Many Glacier wastewater treatment plant, constructing an emergency operations center, installing the remaining horizontal drains on the Many Glacier Road, rehabilitating 2.6 miles of the Many Glacier Road, adding five more four-season toilets to the park and adding a curatorial storage facility.

In addition the park would like to upgrade the sewer and water system at Granite Park Chalet. The Park Service currently has to airlift out the human waste each fall, which is stored in drums. Granite Park also does not have any potable water, though a spring-fed stream does run nearby just down from the chalet near the campground.

While the new funding would address maintenance, it does not address staffing losses at the national parks. While Glacier was able to hire more than 300 seasonal staff this summer, some key permanent positions have gone unfilled in park headquarters and when people retire, their jobs are often left vacant.