Fact Sheet: 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

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.