Welcome to this month's News from the Parks episode of the America's National Parks

podcast. The America's National Parks Podcast is sponsored by L. L. L.B.

Bine believes the more time you spend outside together, the better.

That's why they've partnered with the National Park Foundation to help you find your park

and get there with family and friends. With more than 400 national park sites in the US, there are beautiful surprises to be found in every corner of the country.

There's probably one closer than you think.

Be an outsider with L.L. Bean.

Coming to you from the Utah side of the almost criminally underrated Dinosaur National Monument,

I'm Jason Epperson.

While the Great American Outdoors Act has passed both the House and the Senate and has now been signed by President Trump,

the bill is an attempt to address the 12 billion dollar plus maintenance backlog in the national park system as well as other public land projects.

For each year through 2025, half of the money raised from oil and gas leases on federal lands

will go into the National Park system and other public land projects, up to $1.9 billion a year

for a possible total of $9.5 billion over the five-year span.

The bill also fully funds the

land-in-water conservation fund which is a decades-old program that provides grants to

state, federal, and local parks as well as other public land projects, up to $900 million per year.

And it's expected to generate up to 100,000 national park related jobs.

Over the next 90 days, the National Park Service is expected to put together a maintenance

project list to be considered for funding from this bill over the course of 2021.

Half of that $12 billion plus backlog is roads and bridges.

It's the biggest investment in the national parks in 65 years, but it won't provide an increase in annual funding,

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