Today the Director of Big Game Records for Boone and Crockett Club, Justin Spring, attended the Great American Outdoors Act Celebration at the Roosevelt Arch, which spans the north entrance of Yellowstone National Park. This is the very spot where Roosevelt gave a speech in 1903. Justin spoke on behalf of Club President, Timothy C. Brady. Here's what he had to say:

"Our nation’s federal public lands were a gift to all Americans that began through the vision of Theodore Roosevelt, the founder of the Boone and Crockett Club. As he famously stated, 'There can be no greater issue than that of conservation in this country.' And that clearly continues to ring true.

"The Great American Outdoors Act continues this conservation vision providing the commitment not just to conserve important habitat and natural areas, but also to conduct maintenance actions on our existing network of lands.

"We are standing here today at the entrance to our nation’s first national park. The members of the Boone and Crockett Club, including our founder Theodore Roosevelt, were instrumental in creating the Yellowstone Preservation Act of 1892. The Great American Outdoors Act will provide $9.5 billion over five years to help tackle the deferred maintenance backlog here in Yellowstone and other national parks. 

"Our federal public lands are critical to sportsmen and women who need access to places where they can hunt, fish, target shoot and recreate. Permanent, dedicated funding of the Land and Water Conservation Fund will ensure continued public access, and the funding for deferred maintenance will help maintain access points that hunters utilize on national forests, national wildlife refuges and BLM lands.

"We are here today celebrating this victory because of the leadership of Senator Daines who worked closely with Senator Gardner to secure the support of President Trump, and then worked across the aisle to ensure that this historic conservation legislation became law.

"The Boone and Crockett Club worked closely with our partners in the hunting-conservation community to ensure that sportsmen’s access and maintenance funding for all of our federal public lands were included within this bill.

The Great American Outdoors Act shows clearly how conservation policy can bring together both parties for the good of the country. Enacting this legislation ranks among the most historic conservation actions in decades. Theodore Roosevelt would be proud of this commitment to invest in the management of the public lands legacy that he created."