For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
May 30, 2001
The National Parks Legacy Project
"Good stewardship of the environment is not just a personal
responsibility, it is a public value...Our duty is to use the land well,
and sometimes not to use it at all. This is our responsibility as
citizens, but more than that, it is our calling as stewards of the
earth."
President
George W. Bush, May 30,
2001
Executive Summary
President Bush's "National Parks Legacy Project" includes proposals to
enhance the protection of America's national parks and increase the
enjoyment of those visiting the parks. Examples of proposals
in the National Parks Legacy Project include:
-
Eliminating the $4.9 billion maintenance
backlog in our nation parks over five years.
-
Increasing funding for the Natural Resource Challenge by $20 million
over the 2001 budget, which totals a $49.5 million budget request for
2002.
-
Supporting the Comprehensive
Everglades Restoration Plan with a $3.1 million increase over the 2001
budget, a total of $122.7 million for 2002.
-
Calling for full funding of $900 million for the Land and Water
Conservation Fund, including a $359.7 million programmatic increase
over the 2001 budget.
-
Upholding the existing
policies that prohibit mining, oil and gas exploration, and drilling at
national parks.
-
Fully funding programs to
protect parklands from the ravages of catastrophic fire
-
Increasing park trails by 5,200 miles.
-
Protecting an additional 3,700 miles of river
corridors by providing technical assistance for local restoration
efforts.
-
Restoring 8,900 acres of parklands
to its natural conditions and containing exotic vegetation on 66,400
acres of targeted parkland.
-
Creating an
annual State of the Parks Report and ways to measure performance in
maintaining them to be developed by the Secretary of the Interior.
-
Preparing national park stewardship plans to
operate parks more efficiently and improve stewardship of each park's
natural resources.
-
Reducing haze in our
national parks that can obscure views through Environmental Protection
Agency action.
Our National Parks
The United States has the world's greatest system of national
parks. The National Park System, established in 1916,
protects some of America's most beautiful and essential natural
resources and historical treasures. Our parks connect Americans with
their lands - giving us a common landscape and shared national
treasures.
This extensive national park system of 384 park units on 83 million
acres now receives over 287 million visitors annually. An
aging park infrastructure, stressed by increased use and years of
inadequate funding for maintenance, threatens these national treasures
and our ability to enjoy them. We need to take action now to ensure
that these unique resources are available for the enjoyment of future
generations of Americans. And, we have an opportunity to be responsible
stewards of the land by improving our understanding of complex
relationships of plants, animals, and ecosystems--an understanding
essential for sound management.
The National Parks Legacy Project
President Bush is committed to improving our parks so that current and
future generations will enjoy these national treasures. He will fulfill
the promise of preserving an outdoor legacy--a legacy bequeathed to us
by Teddy Roosevelt and other early visionaries who understood the
importance of these great landscapes, ecosystems, and historic and
cultural settings The President proposed in his 2002 budget the first
steps to ensure that we effectively maintain and enhance our national
parks. Goals for the National Parks Legacy Project include:
enhancement of ecosystems, improvement of outdoor opportunities, better
infrastructure, and accountability through performance goals.
Specifically these goals include:
-
Improving
park infrastructure by eliminating the $4.9 billion backlog of deferred
maintenance.
-
Enhancing conservation efforts by improving
our understanding of the complex relationships among plants, animals,
and ecosystems and better understanding the potential impacts of human
development, pollution, non-native species, and pressures from
increased visitation.
-
Serving the public by ensuring access for
all, including the disabled, to our parks.
-
Improving the education value of park
experiences and ensuring that citizens are aware of opportunities to
participate in conservation and restoration partnerships.
-
Improving conservation and park opportunities
in urban areas through partnering with States and local governments.
-
Preserving and restoring ecosystems.
Funding for the National Parks Legacy Project
In the first step to achieve the goals of the National Parks Legacy
Project, the President proposed in his first budget:
-
Eliminating the National Park Service
maintenance backlog over five years. His 2002 budget includes $439.6
million for non-road projects, which represents nearly a 30 percent
increase over the amount directed to maintenance projects the previous
year.
-- Specifically, at Sequoia National Park, the
President's Budget calls for investing $1.5 million to finish work to
remove paving and facilities that threaten the fragile root systems of
giant Sequoia trees, including the famous General Grant tree, one of
the oldest and largest living trees in the world.
-
Increasing funding for the Natural Resource
Challenge by $20 million over the 2001 budget, which totals a $49.5
million budget request for 2002. These funds improve the management of
natural resources in the parks by increasing the capacity for the
collection and use of information and by fostering creative uses of
partnerships for developing information useful to parks. The
funding includes additions of eight learning centers to promote
cooperative research and partnerships with schools and universities.
-
Supporting the Comprehensive Everglades
Restoration Plan with a $3.1 million increase over the 2001 budget, a
total of $122.7 million for 2002, which includes funding to help
implement this ecosystem restoration effort.
-
Calling for full funding of $900 million for
the Land and Water Conservation Fund, including a $359.7 million
programmatic increase over the 2001 budget. Half of the LWCF
funding supports National Park Service grants to support State and
local outdoor recreation and conservation efforts.
-
Increasing use of an automated facility
management software system and facility condition assessments to allow
the National Park Service to more effectively track and refine its
deferred maintenance backlog.
-
Upholding the existing policies that prohibit
mining, oil and gas exploration, and drilling at national parks.
-
Fully funding programs to protect parklands
from the ravages of catastrophic fire.
Measuring and Achieving Long-Term Success
Conservation is not ultimately about programs; it is about
results. It means measuring improvements in water quality,
stream flows, and plant and animal survival. It means tracking how
efficiently we use resources. The President has proposed a
five-year plan to improve the management of our national parks to
conservation while increasing opportunities for recreational
enjoyment. Specifically, the President's plan will work to:
-
Enhance Recreational Opportunities: Park
trails are expected to be increased by 5,200 miles. More than 41,000
recreational properties assisted by the Land and Water Conservation
Fund, the Urban Park and Recreation Recovery Program, and the Federal
Lands to Parks Program will be protected and remain available for
public recreation.
-
Protect River Corridors: National Park
Service grants will work to protect an additional 3,700 miles of river
corridors by providing technical assistance for local restoration
efforts such as cleaning up riverbeds, rebuilding stream banks and
restoring native vegetation.
-
Restore Disturbed Parklands: The National
Park Service will restore 8,900 acres of parklands to its natural
conditions by removing unneeded man-made structures and returning
native vegetation, and will contain exotic vegetation on 66,400 acres
of targeted parkland.
-
Protect Threatened and Endangered Species: An
estimated 67 park populations of federally threatened and endangered
species with critical habitat on parklands or requiring recovery
actions will experience improved status; 94 more will achieve stable
populations.
-
Better Serve the Public: In 2000, just 77
percent of communities were satisfied with National Park Service
partnership assistance in providing recreation and conservation
benefits on lands and waters. The National Park Service is committed to increasing satisfaction to over 90 percent of these communities.
In addition to the five-year plan to improve management and
conservation, the President is announcing the following ongoing
initiatives, as part of the National Parks Legacy Project:
-
State of the Parks: To give Americans a
better understanding of the shape of our parks and their natural
resources, the Secretary of the Interior will prepare an annual report
on the state of the parks and ways to measure performance in
maintaining them.
-
Stewardship Plans: Several national parks
have begun working with the National Park Conservation Association to
prepare park management plans, giving park managers tools to operate
their parks more efficiently. Expanding on this idea, the national
parks will prepare stewardship plans not only to operate their parks
more efficiently but also to improve their stewardship of each park's
natural resources.
-
Address Haze in National Parks: The
Environmental Protection Agency will be proposing a rule to better
control haze-causing emissions from
certain facilities. Haze can obscure views in our
national parks.
-
Conservation Partners Initiative: Modeled
after the successful Take Pride in America campaign, the National Park
Service will involve citizens across the nation in coordinated efforts
at national parks to undertake specific restoration, improvement, and
habitat enhancement projects. Volunteers already provide our National
Park Service with the equivalent of $66 million in services.
-
Partnering for Stewardship: The President
will ask state and local governments to work with private and nonprofit
partners to expand opportunities for voluntary creation of conservation
easements by willing landowners in sensitive areas near parks. (The
National Park Service has no authority to accept property outside park
boundaries without the approval of Congress). The President
will encourage private individuals and organizations to invest in
voluntary buy-outs of park system inholdings to create seamless parks.
-
Partnering for Research: The President will
direct the National Park Service to work with the U.S. Geological
Survey, universities, colleges, nonprofit organizations, and research
institutions on building scientific understanding of natural resources,
lands, water, and species. One example of this cooperative
work is that the Department of the Interior will expand its partnership
with the Smithsonian Institution, universities and the private sector
to conduct research on species at risk and their needs.
|