By Matthew Holloway |
Rep. Eli Crane’s (R-AZ02) legislation to expedite reconstruction at the Grand Canyon’s North Rim received its first Senate hearing last week week as the Department of the Interior endorsed the House-passed measure and requested expanded small-contract authority.
The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Subcommittee on National Parks considered H.R. 5729, the North Rim Restoration Act, during a legislative hearing on Tuesday. Crane introduced the bill last October after the Dragon Bravo Fire damaged the North Rim and destroyed the historic Grand Canyon Lodge.
“Last July, the Dragon Bravo Fire dealt a serious setback to Northern Arizona, inflicting harm on park staff, gateway communities, and local businesses,” Crane said. “In response, I’m grateful to have collaborated with key stakeholders on a federal response that will help rebuild this iconic destination.”
Crane thanked Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Mike Lee (R-Utah) for placing the bill before the panel and said he hoped Congress would complete work on the measure.
In a post to X, Crane wrote, “This marked the first significant Senate action on the bill since it unanimously passed the House in March. I’m hopeful we can get this across the finish line.”
The legislation would allow the National Park Service to use emergency acquisition procedures without requiring a presidential emergency or disaster declaration. Those procedures include increased micro-purchase thresholds, simplified acquisition thresholds and other contracting flexibilities under federal acquisition regulations.
The authority would cover forest management and restoration, planning and reconstruction of damaged structures, improvements to park grounds and other recovery work within areas of Grand Canyon National Park affected by the Dragon Bravo Fire.
The House-passed version would also permit the Interior Secretary to award limited noncompetitive recovery contracts to the concessioner operating at the North Rim. The secretary would first have to determine in writing that the concessioner is uniquely positioned to perform the work and that noncompetitive procurement is necessary for public safety, resource protection, or continuity of essential services.
Eligible projects would include employee housing, water and wastewater systems, power and communications infrastructure, lodging, food service, retail operations, transportation facilities, and maintenance buildings. The bill states that recovery contracts would remain separate from the concessioner’s existing agreement and would not extend or amend that concession contract.
The emergency authority would expire seven years after enactment or when the Interior Secretary determines that recovery work is complete. The National Park Service would have to report to four congressional committees every 180 days after it begins using the authority.
The reports would identify anticipated and actual costs, overruns, contractors, possible conflicts of interest, detected waste or fraud, projects completed below expected cost, and estimated completion dates.
Charles Cuvelier, associate director for visitor and resource protection at the National Park Service, told senators that the Interior Department supports the bill.
“This authority will enable the agency to move more efficiently on time-sensitive repair and reconstruction activities,” Cuvelier said in his written testimony.
Cuvelier said North Rim recovery requires coordination across damaged utilities, employee housing, and visitor facilities. The department asked the subcommittee to consider temporarily increasing several additional small-dollar procurement thresholds so the Park Service could issue minor construction and service contracts more efficiently.
The House passed H.R. 5729 on March 16 with no member objecting. The bill’s House cosponsors include Arizona Reps. Andy Biggs (R-AZ05), Juan Ciscomani (R-AZ06), Paul Gosar (R-AZ09), and Abe Hamadeh (R-AZ08), along with Reps. Celeste Maloy (R-UT02) and Tom Tiffany (R-WI07).
The Senate panel also considered S. 3785, the North Rim and Kaibab National Forest Restoration Act, introduced in February by Arizona Democratic Sen. Ruben Gallego with Sen. Mark Kelly as an original cosponsor.
That proposal would extend similar emergency contracting authority to both the National Park Service and U.S. Forest Service for areas affected by the Dragon Bravo and White Sage fires. It would cover Grand Canyon National Park and the Kaibab National Forest, require tribal and local participation in recovery planning, and direct federal officials to prioritize tribal and local businesses when practicable. Its authority would last five years or until recovery is complete.
The lightning-caused Dragon Bravo Fire began July 4, 2025, and burned 149,399 acres across the Kaibab Plateau, including 71,129 acres managed by Grand Canyon National Park. The fire destroyed 114 buildings and outbuildings, including the Grand Canyon Lodge, 80 guest cabins, and 24 buildings in the National Park Service headquarters historic district.
The National Park Service reopened the North Rim for the 2026 season in May. All paved park roads and the full North Kaibab Trail reopened, with the trail open to foot traffic, and the North Rim Campground reopened June 1. Overnight lodging remains unavailable on the North Rim while reconstruction continues.
H.R. 5729 remains before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. The committee would have to advance the legislation before it could receive a vote by the full Senate.
“With this week’s activity in the Senate, we are getting closer to delivering much-needed relief to those impacted by this destructive fire,” Crane said.
Matthew Holloway is a senior reporter for AZ Free News. Follow him on X for his latest stories, or email tips to Matthew@azfreenews.com.
