$8.5M investment comes to the Rocky Mountain Region to improve roads, trails, and water quality
Contact Information: Acting Regional Press Officer: Heather Lentz heather.lentz@usda.gov
Biden-Harris Administration invests nearly $66M nationwide as part of Investing in America Agenda
LAKEWOOD, Colorado, March 11, 2024— Friday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced nearly $66 million to improve water quality, roads, trails, bridges and fish habitat on national forests and grasslands nationwide.
Approximately $8.5 million of the total investment, made possible by President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, will fund nine Legacy Roads and Trails Program and Collaborative Aquatic Restoration Program projects throughout the Rocky Mountain Region.
In Colorado and Wyoming, approximately $3.5 million will support the Bighorn, Medicine Bow-Routt, Pike-San Isabel, Shoshone, and White River National Forests efforts to decommission unauthorized trails and roads and restore and maintain others to improve water quality and restore habitat for threatened and endangered fish or wildlife. These projects will also increase resiliency of roads and trails, allowing for greater access to national forests and grasslands for visitors, businesses, and wildland firefighters.
“President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law has given us a remarkable opportunity to improve our national forests and public facilities,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. “These investments will ensure that millions of Americans can continue to enjoy clean water, world-class recreation, and more resilient transportation infrastructure across hundreds of communities in and around national forests and grasslands.”
Additionally, $5 million will go to the Collaborative Aquatic Restoration Program at Camp Hale, a World War II era training camp that impacted approximately 6.8 miles of stream and 120 acres of wetlands in the White River National Forest.
Restoration activities will follow a new management plan prepared in cooperation with the Ute Tribes and the National Forest Foundation in support of improved water quality, E. coli prevention, restored fish passage for threatened, endangered, and other aquatic species, increased landscape resiliency, and elimination of high sediment loads in drinking water systems.
For a complete list of projects being funded in fiscal year 2024, visit Legacy Roads and Trails | US Forest Service and Collaborative Aquatic Landscape Restoration | US Forest Service.