Who is Rescuing America’s National Parks? Trump.

In a year of astonishing reversals, one of the biggest may turn out to be President Trump’s emergence as the unlikely savior of America’s national parks. The president tweeted that he will sign the Great American Outdoors Act, which will provide billions of dollars to repair and maintain the country’s 419 national park sites and help to protect public lands in all 50 states. Hailed as “a conservationist’s dream,” the act will be the biggest land conservation legislation in a generation.

How did we get here? For the past three years, the Trump administration has been undermining safeguards for public lands. It slashed the acreage of Bear Ears National Monument in Utah by 85 percent, removed protection for millions of acres of sage-grouse habitat, opened the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and most of the US coastline to oil and gas drilling, reduced protections for wetlands, and weakened the Endangered Species Act. Earlier this year, Trump proposed draconian cuts to the National Parks budget and Land and Water Conservation Fund.

The administration’s dramatic about-face is largely due to the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic. As the economy struggles in the deepest crisis since the 1930s, local communities that rely on visitors and tourism associated with national parks are desperate to protect their assets. According to the National Parks Foundation, visitor spending in and around national parks contributed more than $41 billion to the US economy last year and supported 340,500 jobs. Many of these jobs are now in jeopardy.

The national parks are intertwined with the economy of Western states, where several incumbent Republican congressional members face tough electoral battles in November. The push to gather bipartisan support for the Great Outdoors Act was led by Senator Cory Gardner of Colorado, who is facing an uphill challenge from former governor John Hickenlooper, and Senator Steve Daines of Montana, who is running neck and neck with Democratic Governor Steve Bullock. These two seats are critical to Republican hopes of holding the Senate. Gardner’s campaign is already running ads touting his role in the legislation, which is expected to create 108,000 jobs associated with repair and construction of park infrastructure, according to the Pew Trust.