Good News! National Parks Getting Funded!

from the National Parks Conservation Association:

I am writing with exciting news about our national parks! With help from national park supporters like you over the past several months, the National Park System has just received a significant increase in funding for 2010. Last week, President Obama signed a $32.2 billion Interior and Environment Appropriations bill for the 2010 fiscal year. In this bill, the National Park Service (NPS) received $2.7 billion—roughly $218 million above the 2009 funding level!

While this bill demonstrates a concerted effort by Congress and the Administration to restore our national treasures in time for the 2016 centennial of the National Park Service, this victory for national parks could not have happened without NPCA supporters like YOU.

Here are some of the highlights from the bill:

• NPS Operations received roughly $130 million above last year’s funding level, which fulfills the President’s pledge to increase park operations $100 million above inflation.
• The NPS portion of the Land and Water Conservation Fund—a fund used to purchase critical lands now on the market for conservation and public recreation—received $126.26 million. This is an increase of $61 million over last year’s level and $28 million above the President’s request.
• Public-Private Partnerships, previously known as the Centennial Challenge, was funded at $15 million.
• A potentially harmful rider that would have required a public hunt to manage the growing elk population at Theodore Roosevelt National Park was removed. The rider would have overridden longstanding agency-wide policy.
• Most importantly, and beyond the numbers, the NPS is now better able to hire more rangers, fill out the authorized boundaries of many parks, enhance its ability to address the impacts of climate change on our national parks, and preserve America’s Everglades, Great Lakes, and other nationally-significant ecosystems.

NPCA works tirelessly to ensure that our National Park System is adequately funded and protected—and especially leading up to 2016. With your support and with the resources and experience we’ve gained from over 90 years in Washington, we will not give up in making America’s best idea even better.

Thank you for your support of NPCA, for the messages you send to your leaders, and for all that you do for our parks. Working together we can, and do, make a positive difference for America’s national parks.