Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutSupport for National Park Serviceril 3, 2019 Senator Patty Murray 154 Russell Senate Office Building Washington, DC 20510 Senator Maria Cantwell 511 Hart Senate Office Building Washington, DC 20510 Representative Suzan DelBene 2442 Rayburn House Office Building Washington, DC 20515 Representative Rick Larsen 2113 Rayburn House office Building Washington, DC 20515 Representative Jaime Herrera Beutler 1107 Longworth House Office Building Washington, DC 20515 Representative Dan Newhouse 1318 Longworth House Office Building Washington, DC 20515 Dear Members of Congress: Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers 1314 Longworth House Office Building Washington, DC 20515 Representative Derek Kilmer 1520 Longworth House Office Building Washington, DC 20515 Representative Pramila Jayapal 319 Cannon House Office Building Washington, DC 20515 Representative Kim Schrier 1123 Longworth House Office Building Washington, DC 20515 Representative Adam Smith 2264 Rayburn House Office Building Washington, DC 20515 Representative Deny Heck 425 Cannon House Office Building Washington, DC 20515 As the Mayor of Port Angeles with support from City Council, we fully recognize the cultural, educational, recreational, and economic importance to our communities and constituents of the 15 national parks in Washington State. Because of this, we support congressional legislation entitled the Restore Our Parks Act (S. 500) and its companion bill, the Restore Our Parks and Public Lands Act (H.R. 1225), which would direct robust and dependable multi-year funding to help address the multi -billion -dollar maintenance backlog facing our National Park system. We ask that you support this legislation, too. The National Park Service (NPS) faces a continuous challenge in adequately maintaining its sites for quality visitor experience, including providing access to natural wonders and ensuring interpretive displays for educational purposes. After decades of inconsistent funding, NPS has a repair backlog estimated at nearly $12 billion nationally and $398 million in Washington state. This includes crucial repairs to aging historic structures and thousands of miles of roads and trails, bridges, tunnels, sewers, drainage, and other vital infrastructure. By investing in national parks, you contribute to our local economies. From North Cascades and Olympic National Park, to Fort Vancouver, Lake Roosevelt and historic sites like the *Manhattan Project, Lewis and Clark Trail and Whitman Mission, more than eight million visitors enjoyed our national parks in 2017. Our local economies benefited from $507.8 million spent by these visitors. That spending supported 6,538 jobs and added a cumulative benefit of $676.8 million to the state economy -money that helps businesses, schools, and families. To keep national parks in Washington strong and vibrant, while supporting our communities and constituents, we must fix our parks. There is great bipartisan opportunity to get this done by passing Restore Our Parks Act (S. 3172) and Restore Our Parks and Public lands Act (H.R. 6510). We urge you to join your colleagues and support this important legislation. Sincerely, Sissi P. Bruch Mayor