National Parks Group Supports Legislation to Honor Buffalo Soldiers, Diversify National Park System
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PRESS RELEASE
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| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | |
| Date: | February 6, 2013 |
| Contact: | Kati Schmidt, Senior Media Relations Manager, National Parks Conservation Association: 415.728.0840; Mobile: 415.847.1768 Neal Desai, Pacific Region Associate Director, National Parks Conservation Association: 415.989.9925; Mobile: 510. 368.0845 |
National Parks Group Supports Legislation to Honor Buffalo Soldiers, Diversify National Park System
Statement by Neal Desai, Pacific Region Associate Director, National Parks Conservation Association
“The National Parks Conservation Association applauds Senators Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer and Congresswoman Jackie Speier for their Senate and House reintroduction of the Buffalo Soldiers in the National Parks Study Act. The House version, backed by 16 Congressional co-sponsors, as well as the Senate version echo our call to diversify our National Park System. If enacted, the Secretary of the Interior would be authorized to determine how the Buffalo Soldiers’ story should be represented within the National Park System.”
“In the late 1800s and early 1900s, African-American troops who came to be known as the Buffalo Soldiers played a historic and central role in protecting Yosemite, Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks, from their headquarters in the Presidio of San Francisco. They were essentially our first national park rangers, as they constructed roads, extinguished fires, created maps, and prevented poachers and loggers from exploiting our national parks.”
“As we look to the 2016 centennial celebration of the National Park Service, diversifying our national parks to more fully reflect our shared heritage and cultural diversity is of paramount importance. Only three percent of our national historic landmarks are currently dedicated to minorities or women. We support efforts to rectify this imbalance in a way that also honors our first national park rangers, and look forward to successful passage in the Senate and House of the Buffalo Soldiers in the National Park Study Act.”
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