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Nearly 400 national parks can be found all across America, and feature breathtaking vistas, rock formations millions of years old, and more.
In an announcement made earlier this week, the Department of Transportation will spend nearly $41 million to improve access to America’s national parks, forests and wildlife refuges and upgrade older transportation infrastructure within those spaces.
The funding, which is being provided by the Federal Transit Administration’s (FTA) Paul S. Sarbanes Transit in Parks program, will be allocated to 58 projects in 24 states around the country. The District of Columbia will also receive funding. The awarded projects aim to conserve natural, historical and cultural resources, and reduce congestion and pollution.
Projects range from redesigning and widening the Nauset Bicycle Trail at Cape Cod National Seashore in Massachusetts to purchasing new fuel-efficient buses to transport visitors between Sausalito and the Muir Woods National Monument in California. A full list of the projects can be viewed here (PDF).
Cuyahoga Valley National Park, outside Cleveland, Ohio, will receive five grants totaling $3.2 million for the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad, an attraction the FTA said has been successful and popular. Projects planned include the installation of a pedestrian bridge, rehabilitation of a bicycle transport baggage car, and repairs and design improvements for an older wheelchair-accessible rail car.
“Our nation’s scenic parklands and protected areas are national treasures attracting millions of visitors each year,” DOT Secretary Ray LaHood said in a statement. “It’s vitally important to preserve and protect these lands for today’s visitors as well as future generations by investing in safe, accessible and environmentally sustainable transportation.”
Derrick A. Crandall, president of American Recreation Coalition, a Washington-based nonprofit organization, said the new funding may help boost international tourism. “It’s equipping our parks to better serve 21st century American travelers,” Crandall said, “and is a huge opportunity to regain our share of international tourism.”
According to the U.S. Travel Association, a trade group, global long-haul travel increased by 40 percent from 2000 to 2010. The United States’ share, however, shrunk to 12.4 percent from 17 percent. As a result, the United States lost 78 million potential visitors who would have generated $606 billion in spending, the association said.
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Char Miller, director of the environmental analysis program at Pomona College in Claremont, Calif., said the spending is “only a shot in the arm.” Fixing all of the ailing roads, bridges and trails in parks around the country would take more than $41 million, Miller said.
The National Park Service lost roughly $400 million from its budget from a decade ago. Since then, President George W. Bush and President Barack Obama added incrementally to its funding, but the budget has since been cut and remains below levels from the 1990s, according to Miller.
“We can do better,” Miller said. “We should do better.”
John Garder, who handles budgetary affairs for the National Parks Conservation Association, said the overall budget is currently $167 million less than it was two years ago. “The National Park Service is hundreds of millions of dollars short each year from what is needed to adequately address the operating and maintenance needs of the parks,” he said.
Jack S. Ezon, president of the corporate travel agency Ovation Vacations, has visited and hiked in many of the world’s national parks. Although excited about the new funding, Ezon is concerned that it might mean additional traffic to the parks, which could result in a more commercial, less pristine environment.
“But it’s still a net gain for us,” he said. “It gives people a great appreciation for our land, making them more sensitive to the environment and more committed about taking care of our planet.”
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I am sure that there will be many who will say that it is a waste to spend money on parks when we have so many unemployed or unable to get health care. But the parks are our legacy to the future, I would much rather money be spend on them than pay the fat cats who are lining their pockets with military contracts. We need to cut the military spending and spend taxpayers' money on good projects like these national parks works.
During the Depression of the 30s. one of the things FDR put the PWA and CCC to doing was making improvements to the National Park infrastructures, road, bridges, buildings, etc. THIS PROVIDED JOBS TO THE UNEMPLOYED AND IMPROVED A LOT OF OUR NATIONAL TREASURES! Mr. President, are you listening????
Uh OleTN obviously he is...thats why the funding. And $41 Million is a pittance ...anyone who complains about that should note that just one of the newer Jet Fighters costs $120 Million...10 Cents per person in the US and the fact that revenue will increase at the parks and for the businesses that feed off tourism will probably mean this is actually profitable in the not too long term.
No need to make it a political statement.
A big difference is now the work would likely be done by union workers at union wages rather than by unemployed workers working for low wages. So not a very good comparison to FDR and the depression.
It would also help increase tourism to double (or triple) the fees required for tourist visas and make them 100% refundable when the tourist returns to his own country when his/her visa expires. It would be like posting bond guaranteeing that they would leave when they were supposed to.
That way the visas are free and the US has a record of when/where they leave the US when they leave! Everybody wins! And if they fail to leave at least we could use the money from the forfeited fees to help defray costs of finding and deporting them if they overstay!