H.R. 1073 — Great Lakes Gateways Network Act of 2025

This section provides the short title of the Act as the “Great Lakes Gateways Network Act of 2025.”

This section directs the Secretary of the Interior, in cooperation with the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, to provide technical and financial assistance to identify, conserve, restore, interpret, and connect natural, recreational, historical, and cultural resources in the Great Lakes Watershed by establishing a Great Lakes Gateways Network and Great Lakes Watertrails. As background, the network may include State or Federal parks or refuges, historic seaports, archaeological, cultural, historical, or recreational sites, and other public access and interpretive sites selected by the Secretary, and it is intended to improve public education about and access to the Great Lakes. This section also establishes a Great Lakes Gateways Grants Assistance Program to support State and local governments, local communities, nonprofit organizations, and the private sector in conserving, restoring, and interpreting Great Lakes resources. It limits each grant to 50 percent of eligible project costs, requires non-Federal sources to cover the remaining 50 percent, and caps administrative expenses at 10 percent of all eligible project costs. This section authorizes $6,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2026 through 2031.