In a rare case of federal bipartisanship, Congress approved — and President Trump signed — the Great American Outdoors Act this summer.

The legislation fully funded the Land and Water Conservation Fund and aims to address nearly $12 billion in deferred maintenance on federal lands. The act will provide $9.5 billion. Those funds will be disseminated at a rate of $1.9 billion over five years through 2025.

The U.S. Forest Service was given a portion of the funding to distribute. The USFS has implemented a competitive grant process by which to award the funds.

The Forest Service’s Eastern Region out of Milwaukee, Wisc. is now seeking public feedback on a proposed list of projects for the first funding round, including a total of nine projects on the ANF.

Per a statement from the Eastern Region, the Forest Service has $5.2 billion in deferred maintenance needs to “improve public access and quality of visitor experience through repair and restoration of roads, trails, bridges, recreation sites and other facilities.”

There are a total of nine projects included for the Allegheny National Forest for this first portion of funding.

One is located in Warren County — an aquatic organism passage over Cherry Run in Sheffield Township. Cherry Run is located just off Rt. 948 and enters the south branch of the Tionesta near the North Country Trail trailhead there.

Here’s a look at the other projects proposed:

¯ Dew Drop Campground. The “project will consist of upgrades to the entire facility.”

¯ A grinder pump replacement at the North Central Lagoon.

¯ Bridge replacement over the north Branch of Sugar Run on FR 127, located east of Kellettville. “During a routine inspection in 2020,” officials say, “this bridge was found to have eleven broken laminations of the superstructure.” That required the bridge load capacity be reduced to three tons.

¯ Big Mill Creek bridge replacement. Big Mill Creek is located southwest of Ridgway.

¯ Forest Road 136/343, both located northwest of the Timberline trailhead between Marienville and Ridgway. Activities proposed include the construction of 2.1 miles of new road, reconstruction of .4 miles of existing road, removal of 2.9 miles of roads, restoration of 120 feet of stream channels and .55 acres of wetlands.

¯ Road repair and addressing slope stability issues on Forest Road 145, Salmon Creeek Rd., west of Marienville.

¯ Improvements to the Irwin Run Canoe Launch on the Clarion River. The project calls for expanded parking, replacement of existing restroom facility and design and installation of a new canoe/kayak launch.

“We want to hear from our visitors and stakeholders about what matters most to them and what they think is needed to improve their experience,” Gina Owens, Eastern Regional Forester, said. “This effort to improve our infrastructure is the largest investment in a generation, and we want to make sure we wisely use it to meet our visitor’s needs and modernize our offerings.”

Comments will be received until Nov. 30 at https://cara.ecosystem-management.org/Public/CommentInput?project=NP-2652.