Landscape Architect Articles

Stimulus Package for National Park Service Will Cover About 10 Percent of Maintenance Backlog02-19-09 | News

Stimulus Package for National Park Service Will Cover About 10 Percent of Maintenance Backlog

Given that federal dollars funded to NPS basically go to construction and maintenance, individual parks must raise money to support other programs. Since 1988, the Yosemite Fund has supported over 200 projects totaling nearly $50 million. On Sept. 29, 2008, Toyota presented a check for $603,000 and five Toyota Prius vehicles to the Yosemite Fund to help support its Yosemite Leadership Program, which helps educate youth about preserving and sustaining wildlife in the park. Toyota is donating $5 million and 23 Prius cars aid to five U.S. National Parks to help their education programs and enhance their environmental leadership.

We?EUR??,,????'?????<

NPS will get a bit of a boost from the federal stimulus package. The original House stimulus package allotted $2.25 billion for the NPS maintenance backlog, however, after reconciliation of the House and Senate bills, the number shrunk to $750 million.

The breakdown for the $750 million follows:

$146 million for ?EUR??,,????'?????<

$15 million?EUR??,,????'?????<

$589 million?EUR??,,????'?????<

Well, there goes the $750 million, but within the Federal Highway Administration Highway infrastructure investment appropriation is $170 for ?EUR??,,????'?????<

Despite the numbers, Tom Kiernan, president of the National Parks Conservation Association, was quoted saying: ?EUR??,,????'?????<