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Washington, D.C. – The nation’s leading voice for the national parks, the nonprofit National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) today praised the Department of the Interior announcement of the specific job-creating projects that will be completed in national parks, including Rocky Mountain National Park, as a result of the more than $900 million in stimulus funding provided by Congress.

“This important reinvestment in the crumbling infrastructure of our national parks is a step that will create jobs in large and small communities nationwide, and help to restore our nation’s heritage for our children and grandchildren,” said National Parks Conservation Association President Tom Kiernan. “There is much more to do to restore our national parks, but this is progress.”

The Department of the Interior’s list of National Park Service infrastructure projects including funds at Mesa Verde National Park to install solar panels for the headquarters building and to add alternative fuels transit buses.  Rocky Mountain National Park will receive over $2 million for important improvements to trails, campground and historic buildings. There will be an investment of over $20 million for 29 projects throughout Colorado’s national parks.

“This is an important step toward revitalizing our national parks for our children and grandchildren, and creating jobs today,” said Karen Hevel-Mingo, the National Parks Conservation Association’s Southwest regional program manager. “We are also excited to see the support of multiple energy efficiency and renewable energy projects throughout the park system.”

In December, the National Parks Conservation Association published Working Assets: Reinvesting in National Parks to Create Jobs and Protect America’s Heritage, a report which called on Congress and the Administration to include national parks in economic recovery legislation and offered examples of ready-to-go, job-creating infrastructure projects in national parks nationwide. The final bill passed by Congress in February included a measured investment of $900 million toward the Park Service’s massive, $9-billion backlog of critical maintenance and preservation projects.

Congress directed approximately $750 million toward national park infrastructure projects through the Department of the Interior; approximately $170 million is provided for national park road repair needs through the Department of Transportation. 

An economic study commissioned by NPCA found that every federal dollar invested in national parks generates at least four dollars economic value to the public. In Colorado, the national parks generate over $340 million in visitor spending and create over 9,000 jobs.

“Investments in national park infrastructure will help to improve safety and public access, restore our national heritage, and bring immediate economic benefits—including thousands of new jobs in rural and urban communities nationwide,” concluded Hevel-Mingo.

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