In these highly partisan days it was nice, almost unbelievable, that a true bi-partisan piece of legislation made its way through Congress and was signed into law by President Donald Trump. The signing occurred this past Tuesday.

The Great American Outdoors Act passed the House of Representatives 310-107 and the Senate 73-25. The bill had 59 cosponsors in the Senate, of which 42 were Democrats, 15 Republicans and two independents. True.

What the Great American Outdoors Act does, primarily, is provide money for a maintenance backlog in National Parks which the NPS has placed at an astounding $11.9 billion, mostly for deteriorating roads and structures. But money for other agencies is included in the act too, such as the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

North Dakota’s two Senators, John Hoeven-R and Kevin Cramer-R, were among those voting for the bill. Hoeven had cosponsored a part of the legislation known as the “Restore Our Parks Act”, which contains dollars for improvements to Theodore Roosevelt National Park in this state. Cramer was also a cosponsor of the legislation which he called “historic.”

Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt expressed his pleasure at the bill’s passage and signing, designating Aug. 4 of each year as a “Fee Free Day” at all National Parks. Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Michigan, said the act supports the “twin goals of protecting America’s crown jewels and repairing deteriorating infrastructure.”

The bill has some critics too. A few. What else can be expected from Washington?

A big part of the legislation is permanent funding of the Land and Water Conservation Fund, allocating approximately $900 million per year to the LWCF which has seen significant monetary shortfall for nearly 50 years.

No new taxes were necessary to finance the costs contained in the bill. Revenue from energy development will provide nearly $2 billion per year. Another $900 million a year will come from royalties from offshore oil and natural gas.

According to the NPS, improvements are needed for more than 5,500 miles of paved roads, 17,000 miles of trails and 24,000 buildings “for the benefit of the American people and the betterment of our public lands.”

Let’s hope it turns out that way.