In Grand Junction, Colorado on July 23 Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland announced a $6.1 million investment to replace facilities at the Air Center complex at the airport, which is the dispatch and air tanker base at the Upper Colorado River Interagency Fire Management Unit.

The improvements at the multi-purpose wildland fire management and operations center will eliminate safety hazards by replacing multiple structurally deficient buildings with a single cost-effective building.

“We owe the brave women and men on the frontlines the right tools and training they need to protect our communities and our lands from the increasing threat of fire,” said Secretary Haaland while touring the Grand Junction Air Center.

The infrastructure improvements to the Air Center complex announced Friday are intended to keep workers safe and increase efficiency while reducing operation costs. Additional structural repairs to the Tanker Base concrete apron pavement will correct multiple deficiencies and bring the apron into compliance with Federal Aviation Administration requirements.

The project is supported by the Great American Outdoors Act’s (GAOA) National Park and Public Land Legacy Restoration Fund program. Through GAOA, the Department of the Interior will invest more than $1.6 billion in Fiscal Year 2022  to address critical deferred maintenance projects and improve transportation and recreation infrastructure in national parks, national wildlife refuges, and visitors centers, as well as dams, water and utility infrastructure, schools, and other historic structures.