A renewed federal fund to fix public lands could land hardest in Alaska

No state has more at stake in the country's public-lands repair bill than Alaska. The state holds more national park acreage than any other — more than half of the entire National Park System — plus the nation's two largest national forests, some of its biggest wildlife refuges, and tens of millions of acres of other federal land. So when Congress moves to fund fixing that infrastructure, a large share of the need is here.

On Wednesday, the U.S. House Natural Resources Committee advanced a bill to do exactly that. The Great American Outdoors Act 250 (H.R. 9250) would renew the Legacy Restoration Fund for five more years at up to $1.9 billion a year, aimed at a deferred-maintenance backlog topping $46 billion across federal lands nationwide — much of it the kind of remote infrastructure that is costly to reach and repair.

The money, drawn from federal energy revenues, is split among the agencies that manage most of Alaska's public lands: the National Park Service takes 70%, the Forest Service 15%, and the Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Land Management, and Bureau of Indian Education 5% each. Backers project the work would support more than 72,000 jobs nationwide and generate over $26.4 billion in economic activity — much of it in the gateway and tribal communities that ring the parks and forests, a description that fits dozens of Alaska towns.

The fight in committee was over a new fee on foreign visitors. Under the bill, it would apply only at Park Service sites and only to people on tourist visas, with the amount left to the agency and visitors allowed to self-attest at the gate. Rep. Seth Magaziner of Rhode Island tried to strike it, arguing it would hurt gateway businesses and the American workers who depend on tourism; Rep. Tom McClintock backed him, calling the fees "economic self-sabotage." It's a live concern in Alaska, where cruise and tour traffic from abroad feeds the summer economy of towns near parks like Glacier Bay and Denali.

Ranking Member Jared Huffman opposed striking the fee, saying the bill's limits struck the right balance and that charging foreign visitors more is common elsewhere. The amendment failed, and the committee sent the bill forward. Chairman Bruce Westerman, pointing to 140 cosponsors split evenly between the parties, said the goal is to get it to the president's desk "in time for America's 250th birthday celebrations."