National Park Reinvestment Creates Jobs, Restores Heritage, National Parks Conservation Association Tells Congress
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PRESS RELEASE
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| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | |
| Date: | December 10, 2008 |
| Contact: | Andrea Keller Helsel, NPCA, 202.454.3332 |
National Park Reinvestment Creates Jobs, Restores Heritage, National Parks Conservation Association Tells Congress
Washington, D.C. – Testifying before the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee today, former deputy director of the National Park Service and member of the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) Board of Trustees Deny Galvin said that national parks should be included as part of the national economic recovery program, as ready-to-go park projects will create economic activity and restore our national heritage.
“Americans love our national parks, and this kind of investment in them as part of an economic recovery package will have outsized benefits,” Galvin stated in his testimony. “An investment in our national parks is both an investment in today and in our future.”
NPCA affirms that the approximately $1 billion in ready-to-go maintenance and preservation projects in the national parks this coming year, including restoration and repair of trails, historic structures, roads, and bridges that visitors use every day, will create economic activity and address critical park needs. Additional projects would control invasive species, “green” park architecture, and launch clean energy programs.
A recent study commissioned by NPCA found that every federal dollar invested in national parks generates at least four dollars economic value to the public.
In October, NPCA was the sole conservation organization invited to testify before the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee about the opportunity to include funding for national park road and bridge repair in economic recovery legislation. More than half of all of the roads in national parks are in poor condition.
“As much as $440 million worth of road projects in our national parks are ready to go to construction, and can rapidly produce as many as 7,000 jobs while also renewing our national heritage and helping to revitalize our national parks for our children and grandchildren,” NPCA President Tom Kiernan told the committee on October 29.
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