Editor's note: This updates with the Senate allocating $50 million for the National Park Service's Historic Preservation Fund, adds comment from the National Parks Conservation Association.
With Congress going down to the wire in an effort to reach agreement on a budget bill and avoid another government shutdown, what remains to be seen is how much hurricane relief aid will be provided for the National Park Service, which suffered extensive damage from hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria last fall.
Last fall the Office of Management and Budget requested a little more than $225 million for the agency:
* $25,040,000. This would provide $25 million for the Operations of the National Park System account for incident management response teams deployed during hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria and emergency supplies for park employees in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Additional resources would cover costs to relocate staff from destroyed Government housing in hurricane-affected areas.
* $182,560,000. This would provide $182.6 million to the Department of the Interior for the National Park Service Construction account for damages from hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria. This funding is needed to remove debris and hazardous materials, and to repair a wide-range of NPS-owned facilities such as visitor centers, ranger stations, waste water treatment facilities, employee housing units, roads, bridges, campgrounds, and water control structures damaged as a result of the hurricanes.
* $17,500,000. This would provide $17.5 million in Historic Preservation Fund grants to State and Tribal Historic Preservation Office to accelerate permitting to rebuild historic properties damaged from hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria. In the areas impacted by hurricanes, there are more than 150,000 listed or eligible for the National Register of Historic Places. Owners of historic buildings that were damaged will need SHPO or THPO approval before rebuilding. These funds would streamline that process and allow the SHPOs and THPOs to provide technical assistance and advice to local government officials and property owners about preserving historic and archeological resources affected by the hurricanes.
While OMB requested $17.5 million for historic preservation needs, the Senate bill provided $50 million, according to John Garder, senior director of budget and appropriations for the National Parks Conservation Association.
"We commend Congress for including in the deal the full amount of storm relief for communities and our national parks, which are already facing major infrastructure challenges. We also commend the additional support of $50 million to support Park Service work on restoring historic sites damaged by the storms," Mr. Garder said Thursday morning.
The 2017 hurricane season delivered potent blows to the National Park System, with damage running from Christianstead National Historic Site north through Texas and Florida and into Georgia. Here's a look at some of Traveler's coverage:
Progress Being Made In Opening National Parks Closed By Hurricanes
Virgin Islands National Park Fully Open To Visitors
Shark Valley Reopens At Everglades National Park
Fort Pulaski National Monument Reopens After Month-long Closure
Hurricanes, Recovery, And Resiliency In The Caribbean's National Parks
Caribbean National Parks Still Working On Hurricane Recovery
Rebuilding Virgin Islands National Park After Hurricane Irma Won't Happen Overnight
Cleanup Work After Hurricanes Irma, Maria Ongoing In Florida, Georgia, Caribbean
Hurricane Damage To Gulf Islands National Seashore To Limit Access Into December
Slowly Putting The Pieces Back Together At Everglades National Park
Island-Wide Curfew In Effect As St. John, Virgin Islands National Park Recover From Hurricane Maria
Saving Trees In National Parks Damaged By Hurricane Irma
Big Thicket National Preserve Recovering After Hurricane Harvey
Stories about:
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