This Great American Outdoors Day 2026, Urge Congress To Reauthorize the Legacy Restoration Fund

In recognition of Great American Outdoors Day, occurring today, August 4, 2026, the RV Industry Association is calling for the reauthorization of the Legacy Restoration Fund. Signed into law on this day in 2020, the Great American Outdoors Act created the Legacy Restoration Fund (LRF) to make long-overdue repairs in America’s national parks, forests, and other public lands. These sites face growing maintenance problems, including crumbling roads, deteriorating campgrounds, outdated water systems, and closed trails. Today, the deferred maintenance backlog on our public lands exceeds $40 billion due to widespread aging infrastructure. 

The Fund was created in 2020 and ran through September 30, 2025. In order to continue, the Fund requires Congressional reauthorization, something the RV industry has been advocating for alongside our partners in the Outdoor Recreation Roundtable (ORR). 

In March, the RV Industry Association joined forces with the Outdoor Recreation Roundtable Business Council for a high-impact legislative fly-in. The itinerary featured deep-dive sessions with the Federal Interagency Council on Outdoor Recreation (FICOR) and the U.S. Department of the Interior. A cornerstone of the event was a meeting at the White House with the Domestic Policy Council and the National Economic Council, where industry leaders emphasized the need for sustained investment in outdoor access—which can be achieved through legislation such as the Legacy Restoration Fund. 

Additionally, during the RV Industry Association’s most recent Advocacy Day, 103 partners and members made co-sponsoring and passing the America the Beautiful Act a major priority, which will reauthorize LRF. The Senate version of the legislation (S. 1547) has 68 cosponsors, while the House version (H.R. 9250) has 222 cosponsors. Most recently, both bills have successfully moved out of committee with bipartisan consensus.

Real-World Impact

This Great American Outdoors Day, see how the Legacy Restoration Fund is transforming outdoor recreation spaces with a few of the many LRF projects detailed below:

1. Rocky Mountain National Park, CO (Moraine Park Campground Rehabilitation): Funding from the Great American Outdoors Act is being used to rehabilitate Moraine Park Campground's water, wastewater, and electrical systems— infrastructure installed in the 1960s and well past its service life. The project extends electrical service to approximately 60 RV campsites, bringing one of the most beloved campgrounds in the country into the modern era.
2. Zion National Park, UT (South Campground Rehabilitation): The Legacy Restoration Fund financed a full rehabilitation of Zion's South Campground: new and rebuilt bathrooms, modern drinking water systems, improved sewer infrastructure, upgraded stormwater drainage, and improved campsites. Most of this infrastructure dated from the 1960s or earlier — decades past its intended lifespan.
3. Yosemite National Park, CA (Tuolumne Meadows Campground Rehabilitation): A $20 million project rehabilitated the park's largest campground (329 sites), including hardened parking pads, repaired roads and culverts, upgraded water and sewer systems, and redesigned campsites with improved drainage for RV, drive-in, and accessible use.
4. Mark Twain National Forest, MO (New RV Hookups and Other Amenities): Funding from the Great American Outdoors Act added new electric hookups for RV campers, a new dump station, and a shower house across three new camping loops — all built in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. RV campers no longer need to run generators.