New York, N.Y. – At a public hearing tonight, the nonpartisan National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) offered a short list of five ways the country could fix the Statue of Liberty, Governors Island, Gateway National Recreation Area, and all of the national parks before the National Park System centennial in 2016. The event, hosted by the National Park Service (NPS), is one in a series of listening sessions held nationwide during the next few weeks.
“To be successful, the National Park Centennial Initiative must fully address the challenges now facing our national parks,” said NPCA Northeast Regional Director Alexander Brash. “The Administration must consider ambitious, visionary, system-wide priority projects and programs to ensure the preservation and restoration of these American treasures.”
NPCA encouraged the Administration to consider major efforts to restore local parks such as Gateway National Recreation Area, Ellis Island, and Governors Island as “Signature Projects” for the new initiative. In particular, New York’s Gateway National Park needs restored habitats, new visitor services, and modern recreational facilities to welcome park visitors. The parks group also requested funding and support for a NPS coordinated ferry service, linking all city, state, and federal parks in the New York Harbor.
The Administration’s Centennial Initiative also coincides with the announcement of an international public design competition recently launched for Gateway National Recreation Area. NPCA, Van Alen Institute, and Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation have joined efforts to help create a new vision for the park. The Tiffany & Co. Foundation has made a major philanthropic gift of $500,000 to support this project. For more information, visit: http://www.vanalen.org/gateway.
“Our national parks are unique places where one may connect with nature and history,” said Brash. “National parks should be a national priority, fully funded by Congress, as they protect the natural, historical, and cultural inheritance of our nation.”
NPCA raised concerns that America’s national parks face many challenges, including an annual operating shortfall in excess of $800 million and a multi-million backlog of maintenance and preservation needs. The organization has identified five ways to fix the national parks before the National Park System centennial in 2016, and is encouraging citizens to petition Congress to make national parks a national priority at www.npca.org/nationalpriority.
The National Park Service is hosting listening sessions through the end of March in several cities nationwide to offer citizens the opportunity to provide feedback on how America’s national parks should be preserved in time for their centennial in 2016—less than 10 years away. These listening sessions are part of the presidential mandate to inform the Administration’s new National Park Centennial Initiative, launched in February with a significant funding increase for park operating needs. People who cannot attend the listening sessions are encouraged to offer comments at http://www.nps.gov/2016.
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