This is the start of National Parks Week (April 21-29), and I wanted to send you a statement from Senator Alexander, who is working to pass his legislation to help pay for the $11.6 billion park maintenance backlog.
Senator Alexander: "In this age of smartphones and tablets, our national parks are even more, not less, important. We are able to escape our digital diets to feast on a world of natural splendor. Growing up outside of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, I know a little about this, and I'm excited to spend some time over National Park Week - which is April 21-29 - in the Smokies. It is my hope that over National Park Week, Tennessee families go visit and explore national parks across the country and create memories of their own."
The National Park Service is hosting a variety of special programs and events over National Park Week, and you can find out more here: https://www.nps.gov/subjects/
About Senator Alexander's legislation:
Senator Alexander is working with Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and his colleagues in Congress to help rebuild and restore our country's national parks so future generations have the same opportunities to enjoy them. Earlier this year, the senator introduced the National Park Restoration Act - legislation that will use revenues from energy production on federal lands to help pay for the $11.6 billion maintenance backlog at our national parks, including the $215 million in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Alexander has pressed his colleagues to pass the legislation this year, saying it "would be the most important piece of legislation for the national parks in decades."
Earlier this month, Senator Alexander visited the Andrew Johnson National Historic Site and National Cemetery in Greeneville -- which preserves the Tennessee president's tailor shop, early home, homestead, burial site and the largest collection of the Johnson's family treasures - to see its $1.7 million maintenance needs. In March, the senator visited the Stones River National Battlefield in Rutherford County and met with the superintendent and park rangers to discuss the park's $3.4 million deferred maintenance projects.
Click HERE for video of the senator's visit to the Andrew Johnson Historic Site and Cemetery and HERE for video of his visit to the Stones River Battlefield.
Background
The National Park Restoration Act:
- Creates the National Park Restoration Fund to provide mandatory funding for the high-priority deferred maintenance needs that support critical infrastructure and visitor services at our national parks.
- Provides mandatory funding for the maintenance backlog on top of annual appropriations for operations and construction at the National Park Service.
- The fund receives 50 percent of onshore and offshore revenues from energy production on federal lands over expected amounts that are not already allocated to other purposes.
- Protects payments to states, the Land and Water Conservation Fund, the Reclamation Fund, and all other existing uses of onshore and offshore revenues. These existing uses will receive all of their funding before the National Park Restoration Fund receives any funding.
The backlog of infrastructure projects at our national parks can limit access and impair visitor experiences and recreation opportunities, and without additional funding, the backlog could continue to grow. The National Park Service (NPS) maintenance backlog is nearly four times what NPS receives in annual appropriations. In Fiscal Year 2017 the NPS' deferred maintenance needs were $11.6 billion - that same fiscal year, NPS received $2.9 million in annual appropriations.
President Trump and Secretary Zinke have made addressing the growing maintenance backlog a top priority.
