Washington
DC Office
307 Dirksen Senate
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Phone: 202-224-6441
Fax: 202-224-1724
Wyoming Office
P.O. Box 22201
Casper, WY 82602
307-261-6413
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Contact: Cameron Hardy
202-224-6441 |
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Parks Chairman Queries Interior Over NPS Budget
Thomas: Interior Should Assess Budget Needs To Overcome Maintenance Backlog |
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| Chairman of the National Parks Committee Craig Thomas talks to committee staff prior to a hearing. |
March 3rd, 2006 - WASHINGTON – During a hearing to provide oversight to the Department of Interior’s 2007 Budget, U.S. Senator Craig Thomas sought answers this week about the outlook for the National Park Service (NPS) budget – particularly in regard to the maintenance backlog.
“We need to know what kind of progress we’re making – not just throw money around,” Thomas said at the hearing. “I want to create a clear vision for overcoming our maintenance backlog and I can’t do that if there’s not a clear way to measure what our backlog needs are.”
Thomas, the Chairman of the National Parks Subcommittee, pushed department officials on how they’re measuring the backlog of maintenance in our national parks. Interior Secretary Gale Norton responded that nearly 6,000 facility improvements have been made over the last five years.
Tracking Maintenance Backlog
Thomas asked about what type of long range program Interior has implemented to track the maintenance backlog and prioritize future maintenance requirements. The Parks Chairman also queried Interior about how much funding Interior estimates it will take to complete the remainder of the effort to catch up with maintenance issues in our nation’s parks.
The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing dealt with a broad range of issues that affect Wyoming and the nation during the hearing Thursday, including issues related to energy development, public lands, endangered species, and national parks.
Thomas queried Norton about budget priorities for the NPS, about which programs would be most affected by the reduction in the NPS budget, and whether a reduction in park operations or visitor services would result from the budget cuts.
Heritage Areas
In addition, he asked about the funding model for National Heritage Areas. “Does the National Historic Preservation Act allow you to use the Historic Preservation Funds to pay for National Heritage Areas? What changes should we make to the National Heritage Areas to benefit Interior management and oversight?” Thomas asked at the hearing.
“I’m concerned about how Interior is budgeting for Heritage Areas. The costs of these provisions underscore the need to pass my Heritage Area criteria bill. These areas are too often adopted without proper consideration for the cost and management of the area. My bill would go a long way toward getting a hold of these problems.”
Thomas has introduced S. 243, a bill that requires Heritage Areas to conform to a set list of criteria and caps the funding level for each designation.
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| 3rd - |
current Press Release |
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