Source Rock Blog
DOGE, Congress Can Build on Trump’s Historic Conservation Gains
April 9, 2025
Flashback to August 2020 when President Trump signed into law the most significant conservation bill since the Beatles played on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1964. The Great American Outdoors Act (GAOA) was a major achievement, and during National Park Week it’s worth acknowledging the win for public lands. But there’s still more to do.
Under the law, $2.8 billion annually is allocated to addressing massive public lands maintenance projects that have plagued national parks, wildlife areas, community parks, and other public lands for decades. The beauty is that rather than creating a new tax to fund conservation programs, GAOA redirects existing revenues generated from energy produced on non-park federal lands and waters. We’re proud to say 95% of the available funds come from oil and natural gas—talk about unleashing American energy!
President Trump’s leadership is proving even more valuable today. His vision in 2020 provides a baseline for DOGE and Congress to guide the National Park Service (NPS) in right-sizing and refocusing its conservation programs.
Problems arose at NPS within months of GAOA’s enactment. The incoming Biden-Harris Administration ignored the law's original intent. Rather than using the money wisely to pay down financial burdens, the administration saw it as an excuse to run up the bill. As a result, the estimated maintenance costs ballooned from $14.8 billion to $23.7 billion in just one year.
Aaron Johnson
Vice President of Public and Legislative Affairs
How did that happen? In testimony before Congress, Biden officials blamed inflation, global supply shortages, and revised project accounting methods. In reality, park rangers were increasingly sent into the field with a charge to identify more projects to add to the maintenance logs. Infrastructure deemed satisfactory the year before was reclassified and reprioritized for overhauling.
DOGE can help get NPS back on track. Rather than adding to the financial burden, the DOGE team can rethink and cut through the bureaucratic processes that led to such bloat. It can help park officials identify cost-effective solutions to maintenance challenges and offer fresh ideas to affordably secure the supplies and labor needed to steward our national treasures.
Congress also has an important role to play. GAOA is set to expire at the end of the federal fiscal year unless lawmakers reauthorize it. Lawmakers should reassert President Trump’s vision for conservation from when he signed the bill and codify through the legislative process any efficiencies identified by DOGE. Doing so can once again produce a strong bipartisan bill that extends GAOA into the future.
History shows our national parks need attention. Numerous facilities in NPS’s inventory are deteriorating from decades of underfunding. Infrastructure installed by previous generations needs replacement. Iconic landmarks require protective care that ensures future visitors are as inspired by them as we are today.
National parks also face modern challenges. Social media influencers are driving unprecedented crowds through their snaps and streams. The outdoor retail industry’s saturation of advertisements exacerbates the problem. COVID lockdowns prompted a surge of visitors that hasn’t abated, and international visitors are reaching new records.
GAOA, as originally envisioned, remains an effective tool to address the financial burdens created by these challenges. Under renewed leadership and with disciplined management, the once seemingly insurmountable maintenance backlog can be eliminated. Thanks to oil and natural gas production on non-park public lands, the revenues needed will remain available.
As westerners, we cherish our national parks and other public lands. As an industry, we’re proud that the energy we produce helps financially sustain these incredible places. We’re grateful for President Trump’s leadership in enacting the Great American Outdoors Act and see it as an important pathway for continued protection of our nation’s iconic places.