In a rare bipartisan vote, Congress sends billions to the national parks
PHOTOGRAPH BY CHARLIE HAMILTON JAMES, NAT GEO IMAGE COLLECTION
READ CAPTION
Lawmakers commit to fixing roads and buildings on forests and grasslands, as well as putting $900 million a year toward land and water conservation.
5 MINUTE READ
BY CRAIG WELCH
[bad iframe src]
[bad iframe src]
PUBLISHED JULY 23, 2020
A 40-YEAR-OLD SEWAGE system at the bottom of the Grand Canyon—built to protect the Colorado River from pollution—is in such disrepair that the national park this summer began limiting visitors to nearby campgrounds.
Leaks at Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church National Historic Park, where Martin Luther King, Jr. served as pastor, have left crumbling plaster and stains on the ceiling. The primary electrical system at Fort Mason in Golden Gate National Recreation Area has been deemed unsafe.
From 50-year-old ranger housing in Yellowstone, to the decaying Arlington Memorial Bridge across Washington, D.C.’s Potomac River, to rundown trails in Kentucky’s Mammoth Cave, repair work in the country’s national parks and recreation areas has been delayed for decades as Congress avoided footing the multibillion-dollar maintenance bill.
But on Wednesday, lawmakers from both parties—bitterly divided over almost everything else—approved the largest infusion of cash since the 1950s for upkeep of the national park system.
Congress also agreed to pump billions of dollars into repair projects in federal forests, wildlife refuges, and grasslands. And lawmakers committed, for the first time, to set up a continuous stream of money to buy and conserve land across the country.
“I know I may be biased, but I think this is the most impactful legislation for parks and public lands in the United States in more than half a century,” says Marcia Argust, director of the Restore America’s Parks program at The Pew Charitable Trusts. “It’s a game-changer.”