Washington, D.C. – The House Committee on Natural Resources passed H.R. 6510, the Restore Our Parks and Public Lands Act and H.R. 502 today, which permanently reauthorizes the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF). Idaho Congressman Mike Simpson has been a leader on both issues having introduced legislation to reauthorize LWCF and address deferred maintenance on our public lands.

“I am encouraged to see movement on both these important public lands issues,” said Simpson. “The positive momentum in the committee of jurisdiction demonstrate that both issues are priorities that need to be addressed by the end of this Congress. I look forward to working with Chairman Bishop and Ranking Member Grijalva to make these critical bills become law.”

Congressman Simpson introduced, H.R. 5210, the National Park Restoration Act which would create a designated fund from energy revenues to address deferred maintenance in our National Parks. Congressman Simpson is also a lead cosponsor of H.R. 6510. In 2017, Congressman Simpson introduced H.R. 2863, the LAND Act, which would fund deferred maintenance projects in the National Park System, Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and U.S. Forest Service. The bill also funds and reauthorizes LWCF.

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