NMMA Joins Outdoor Recreation Roundtable For Impact Meetings on Capitol Hill and with the Administration

Last week, NMMA joined the Outdoor Recreation Roundtable (ORR) and its member organizations on Capitol Hill to advocate for the reauthorization of the Legacy Restoration Fund (LRF) via the America the Beautiful Act. During meetings with White House staff, the Department of Interior, and Members of Congress, NMMA stressed the importance of supporting and protecting Americans' access to public waters, and urged Congress and the Administration to prioritize recreation infrastructure.

The America the Beautiful Act strengthens the National Parks and Public Land Legacy Restoration Fund that was created in the Great American Outdoors Act and signed into law by President Trump in 2020. If reauthorized, this bill represents a tremendous investment into the deferred maintenance of our nation's outdoor infrastructure that is vital to enabling access to our waters and lands.

Fixing recreation infrastructure isn't just critical to boaters, it's critical to the U.S. economy. New data released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) show that the outdoor recreation economy generates $1.3 trillion in economic output and supports 5.2 million jobs across the country. The economic impact generated each year by outdoor recreation represents more than 2.4% of U.S. GDP and is larger than farming, mining, and utilities. Recreational boating and fishing are the primary drivers of the overarching recreational economy.

For more information, please reach out to Cameron Nelson at [email protected].