The Interior Bill also includes an additional $1.5 billion in funding for the Veterans Administration in fiscal year 2005 to ensure veterans in Arkansas and the nation continue to receive the medical care and benefits they have earned. 

The following is a list of Arkansas projects in this year’s Interior Appropriations Bill:

$6,059,000 Rehabilitation of the Superior, Maurice and Lamar Bathhouses in Hot Springs National Park.  
The restoration effort is intended to make the bathhouses suitable for leasing to a private developer as part of a long-term project to use public and private resources to rehabilitate and redevelop Bathhouse Row for future use.

$5,100,000 Construction of Little Rock Central High School Visitor’s Center.
Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site was designated as a unit of the National Park Service in 1998.  Since that time, the current visitor’s center has seen visitation numbers more than double.  The structure’s 1,700 square feet can only accommodate 35 people at one time, forcing visitors to wait outside, at times in inclement weather.  Over 28,000 people enjoyed the historic site in 2004, and it is estimated that annual use will grow to more than 56,000 people by 2007.  This year’s funding, coupled with last year’s funding level of $733,000, will enable the new facility’s completion for the 50th anniversary of the Little Rock Central High School desegregation crisis in 2007.

$809,000 Acquisition of Land Tract in the Cache River National Wildlife Refuge.
This land acquisition will expand the Cache River National Wildlife Refuge to preserve and protect wintering areas vital to the long-term conservation of migratory waterfowl.  The Refuge is located along the Mississippi Flyway, an important travel corridor for migratory birds.  Earlier this year, the ivory billed woodpecker, long thought to be extinct, was discovered in the Refuge.  This land tract, which was previously farmed, has been enrolled in the Wetlands Reserve Program and will contribute to the overall reforestation efforts ongoing in the Delta.

$1,000,000 Acquisition of the Lake Ouachita North Tract, Ouachita National Forest.
This funding will enable the purchase of land surrounded by Forest Service property.  This tract of land is located 20 miles northwest of Hot Springs and two miles north of Lake Ouachita’s Irons Fork Recreation Area.

$500,000 Improvements for Little Maumelle Wastewater Treatment Plant.

$500,000 Improvements for Fayetteville Regional Wastewater System.

$50,000  Funding for the St. Charles Drainage Planning and Improvements project.