President Bush Urged to Keep National Parks Campaign Promise by Members of Congress, Park Advocates

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TO ENVIRONMENTAL AND POLITICAL EDITORS:

President Bush Urged to Keep National Parks Campaign Promise by Members of Congress, Park Advocates

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, WASHINGTON, Feb. 2 -/E-Wire/-- The National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) was joined by key Republicans and Democrats this week in urging President Bush to substantially increase national parks funding in his fiscal year 2002 budget, expected to be submitted to Congress later this month.

NPCA has had discussions with senior members of the new Bush Administration, including Interior Secretary-nominee Gale Norton, and provided them with a briefing paper detailing how America's national parks are suffering from chronic, significant funding shortfalls.

At a September campaign stop in Washington State, Bush pledged to restore America's national parks by eliminating over five years the $4.9 billion maintenance and resource protection backlog at the National Park Service. NPCA believes this promised funding is an excellent beginning for eliminating the backlog, but does not solve all the problems. A further increase of $600 million yearly is needed to cover the National Park System's operating needs.

"This is truly a historic opportunity to protect our magnificent national parks. We're encouraged by our preliminary discussions with Bush transition team members," said NPCA President Tom Kiernan.

NPCA is asking the Bush Administration to fund the parks fully and to designate a significant portion of the new funding to scientific research, resource protection and visitor education. These are the most underfunded areas, as identified by a business plan analysis done by the National Park Service and NPCA. In 1998, the two organizations began a joint Business Plan Initiative study to identify funding needs and sources for each park.

"We applaud President Bush's commitment to national park funding and Interior Secretary-nominee Gale Norton's recent declaration of support for the Bush proposal," Kiernan said. "We now need to educate members of Congress and the public about the sorry state of some of our most cherished national treasures."

Students from the country's top graduate programs in business and government management -- including Harvard, Stanford, and Yale -- have worked with NPCA and park managers under the Business Plan Initiative to develop plans to evaluate the parks' finances. In 1999, PricewaterhouseCoopers certified the process as reasonable and objective.

Copies of the letters sent by Republican and Democratic Senators and House members to President Bush are available, as well as the briefing paper submitted to the Bush Administration. Contact Jan Vertefeuille at EMS, 202/463-6670.

Environmental Media Services

Jan Vertefeuille or Arlie Schardt, Environmental Media Services, 202/463-6670

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