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Senator Chuck Schumer, Majority Leader Senator Mitch McConnell, Minority Leader Senator Patty Murray, Chair, Committee on Appropriations Senator Jeff Merkley, Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, & Related Agencies Congresswoman Tom Cole, Chair, Committee on Appropriations Congressman Mike Simpson, Chair, Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, & Related Agencies |
Congressman Mike Johnson, Speaker of the House Congressman Hakeem Jeffries, Minority Leader Senator Susan Collins, Ranking Member, Committee on Appropriations Senator Lisa Murkowski, Ranking Member, Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, & Related Agencies Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro, Ranking Member, Committee on Appropriations Congresswoman Chellie Pingree, Ranking Member, Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, & Related Agencies |
November 19th, 2024
We respectfully urge you to include federal public lands’ considerable needs in the disaster relief package
Dear Senators and Representatives:
We, the undersigned organizations, representing millions of Americans, are dismayed by the devastation the last two years of natural disasters have caused to communities throughout the country and commend your work to ensure they receive needed aid as you assemble a disaster relief package. Among the many diverse and devastating impacts of recent disasters has been the destruction of—and damage to—natural and human-made infrastructure in our national parks, forests, refuges, trails and other federal lands. These places that mean so much to so many Americans rely on congressional investments to protect public resources and support the economies of countless communities.
As you negotiate the FY25 disaster relief supplemental, we urge you to include the full breadth of disaster needs for our federal public lands management agencies.
From national parks to national forests, national wildlife refuges and other national public lands, these areas are as critical to the recreational economy and tourism as much as they are to conservation, ecosystem services, and the quality of life that draws people to live and reside in the countless communities that have been impacted since the last disaster relief provision in the 2023 omnibus appropriations package.
The impacts to these areas are profound, from the Blue Ridge Parkway to the Appalachian National Scenic Trail, Pisgah National Forest, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge and other refuges on the Florida coast and beyond. The total need is of such a magnitude that it either rivals or even far surpasses the annual operations and maintenance budgets of some of the affected agencies, which include the National Park Service, US Fish and Wildlife Service, US Forest Service, and Bureau of Land Management. Recovery will require project and personnel costs, as well as the engagement of philanthropic and management partners and contracting with construction contractors.
Our federal public lands have already been waiting for relief and repairs for more than a year. The president’s request from October 2023 included $417 million for the US Forest Service, $395 million for the National Park Service, $111 million for the US Fish and Wildlife Service, and $76 million for the Bureau of Land Management. These overdue funds are for repairing and rebuilding facilities and restoring forests and other ecosystems damaged and destroyed by natural disasters from Alaska to Hawaii to numerous locations in the US mainland. Events have included catastrophic wildfires, heavy snowfall, flooding, and landslide and mudslide events. Since that request, the situation has become even more dire with hurricanes that have devastated infrastructure in the Southeast, in addition to prior disasters that included flooding and other damage to National Wildlife Refuges, back-to-back storms in January 2024 that destroyed roads and other infrastructure at Acadia National Park, a May 2024 tornado at Chickasaw National Recreation Area that forced closure to the public, and more.
While we do not have access to the current total for damage assessments since the 2023 disaster supplemental, we understand it to be in the billions of dollars possibly an unprecedented amount for disasters befalling our public lands. Following Hurricane Helene, roadways, bridges and tunnels have been destroyed along the Blue Ridge Parkway, the most visited unit of the National Park System and an economic driver that drew an estimated $1.4 billion in visitor spending in local gateway regions, supporting nearly 20,000 private-sector jobs and $1.8 billion in economic output. The total economic output from outdoor recreation visitor spending in Western North Carolina alone is $4.9 billion and 48,000 full-time jobs; these and other jobs in the region and throughout the country are all at risk without a supplemental appropriation for our federal public lands.
Due to Hurricane Helene, the Appalachian National Scenic Trail and the national forests it connects were significantly impacted, erasing the treadway and devastating its unique ecosystems. Rivers like the Nolichucky and French Broad support thriving whitewater guiding businesses and were severely altered by flooding, requiring significant trash and large debris removal as well as longer term restoration to support safe public access. The road infrastructure of our public lands in the Southeast, which is how many rural Americans move through their communities, has also been severely impacted. Restoring the natural and human-made infrastructure of these public lands is essential to return visitors to the area, who will in turn promote economic recovery.
If Congress fails to provide this relief, the economic impact to communities and to public lands agencies would be profound. Many projects would have to wait indefinitely for repairs, reconstruction or restoration and these agencies would be forced to absorb these costs and/or borrow unobligated balances from other accounts, which would undermine long-awaited projects at treasured protected areas throughout the country. Some work simply would not get done. It would cause further growth of the deferred maintenance backlog that has drawn bipartisan concern in recent years. It would also significantly hamper agencies’ ability to serve local communities generally, as disaster response takes necessary precedence over supporting recreational use, which in turn depresses economic vitality. The amounts are so high that annual spending bills and other funding sources cannot possibly meet the need.
We cannot overstate how important these impacted areas are to the conservation of resources that conserve ecosystem services, wildlife and other resources and that provide for public recreation and enjoyment, as well as to bolster the local, regional and national economies. Congressional investments can support outdoor recreation that contributes over $1 trillion to the U.S. economy annually, repair damaged habitats that support a $250 billion wildlife watching industry, and realize the benefits of national park visitor spending to local communities. In 2023, for the National Park Service alone, 325 million park visitors spent more than $26.4 billion in local gateway regions while visiting National Park System lands across the country, supporting $55.6 billion in economic output nationally.
In closing, as you negotiate a disaster relief supplemental—which must pass this Congress—we again urge you to provide the full amount of funding needed for the US Forest Service, National Park Service, US Fish and Wildlife Service, and Bureau of Land Management to repair and restore the natural and built environment that has been damaged and destroyed across the country since the last disaster relief package in 2023. Our federal land management agencies simply cannot absorb these costs and communities cannot afford to go without this aid.
Thank you for considering this urgent need.
| Access Fund American Bird Conservancy American Discovery Trail Society American Hiking Society American Rivers American Society of Landscape Architects Appalachian Mountain Club Appalachian Trail Conservancy Appalachian Voices Atomic Heritage Foundation Back Country Horsemen of America Back Country Horsemen of Blue Ridge Blowing Rock NC Tourism Development Authority Blue Ridge Conservancy Blue Ridge National Heritage Area Californians for Western Wilderness Camp Grier Carolina Climbers Coalition Carolina Mountain Club Center for Biological Diversity Cherokee Forest Voices Cincinnati Off Road Alliance Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks Conservation Legacy Defenders of Wildlife EcoForesters Environmental Educators of North Carolina Evangelical Environmental Network Explore Brookhaven Florida Wildlife Federation Foothills Conservancy of North Carolina Forest Keeper ForeverGreen Trails Friends of Acadia Friends of Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park Friends of Katahdin Woods and Waters Friends of Pu’uhonua O Honaunau National Historical Park G5 Trail Collective GreenLatinos Headwaters Trails Alliance Health By Design |
Idaho Conservation League Intentional Hiking International Inbound Travel Association Kids for Saving Earth Love in Motion Foundation MountainTrue Mount Airy Tourism Development Authority National Parks Conservation Association National Park Solutions, LLC National Washington Rochambeau Revolutionary Route Association National Wildlife Federation National Wildlife Refuge Association Natural Resources Defense Council North Carolina Wildlife Federation Ohio Mountain Bike Alliance Oregon-California Trails Association Orogenesis Collective Outdoor Alliance Outdoor Business Alliance (of Western North Carolina) Pacific Crest Trail Association Partnership for the National Trails System Partnership of National Trails Pennsylvania Recreation and Park Society Public Lands Alliance Renee Patrick Consulting Rio Grande Indivisible, New Mexico San Diego Mountain Biking Association San Luis Valley Ecosystem Council San Luis Valley Great Outdoors Schoodic Institute Shenandoah National Park Trust Sierra Club Silvix Resources Southeast Tourism Society Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy Southern Environmental Law Center Southern Off-Road Bicycle Association Teaneck Creek Conservancy The Corps Network The Wilderness Society Trust for Public Land United States Tour Operators Association Upper Gila Watershed Alliance Urbana Park District Virginia Bicycling Federation Virginia Trails Alliance Wild Alabama Wildlands Network Yaak Valley Forest Council |