House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Rob Bishop (R-UT) said that the National Park Service is “a uniquely American concept” on the agency’s recent centennial anniversary.
Bishop, however, added that the National Park Service is encumbered by management failures 100 years after its inception.
“Limited resources are siphoned to new acquisitions while the Service’s $12 billion maintenance backlog is ignored,” Bishop said. “For a park to fulfill the measure of its creation, people have to see it. This backlog and management failure limits visits and recreational access. We need creative thinking to expand access and improve visitor experience.”
Bishop recently introduced the National Park Service Centennial Act, H.R. 4680, to provide new funding and management authority to the National Park Service.
“The House is ready to provide the National Park Service with the right management tools that are crucial in continuing to improve our parks and lands for future generations,” Bishop said.
The bill would establish a challenge fund within the Treasury Department to finance signature projects and programs and revamp the National Park System.
The measure would also establish free federal land passes to residents older than 62, as well as establish a Second Century Endowment for the National Park Service that would consist of any gifts, devises or bequests.