SOUTH DAKOTA – Maintenance projects at South Dakota’s national parks and public lands are piling up, and tourism leaders say the state is paying the price.
The National Parks and Public Lands Legacy Restoration Fund expired last year. It was part of the Great American Outdoors Act passed in 2020, and set aside more than $9 billion for those repairs.
Caleb Arceneaux, CEO of LIV Hospitality, said he wants Congress to restore this funding now so visitors keep coming to South Dakota.
“To me, the issue’s super straightforward. It’s aging roads, buildings, the utilities, visitor facilities, they all require sustained investment. So, deferring that work only increases those future costs and puts visitor access and safety at risk,” Arceneaux said.
The National Park Service says Mount Rushmore’s repair backlog is about $57 million, and it’s around $32 million at Badlands National Park.
U.S. Sen. Mike Rounds, R-SD, and U.S. Rep. Dusty Johnson R-SD, are co-sponsors of legislation renewing the fund. Senate Majority Leader Sen. John Thune, R-SD, supports it as well.
House and Senate committees have passed it, and it’s now up for floor votes in both chambers.
Tourism is South Dakota’s second-largest industry behind agriculture. More than 15 million people visited South Dakota in 2025, bringing in more than $5 billion.
Carmen Schramm, executive director of the Tourism Coalition of South Dakota, said tourism also has a big impact on rural communities, supporting nearly 60,000 jobs. She said it’s vital to invest in these facilities so tourists have the best experience possible during their trip.
“People start telling other people about their experiences, and it has that trickle-down effect as far as impacting future visitors and the economic impact of those visitors,” Schramm said.
Before it expired, the Legacy Restoration Fund expanded park staff headquarters at Badlands National Park. It also improved visitor walkways at Mount Rushmore and helped repair roads and dams on Bureau of Land Management lands in South Dakota.
