Senate Committee Passes Bill to Address USFS Maintenance Backlog
On Nov. 19th the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee held a committee mark up on several legislative bills before the committee. One of those bills was S. 500, the Restore Our Parks Act. The legislation sponsored by Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH) and co-sponsored by Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA), establishes a dedicated fund from federal land oil and gas drilling revenues to address the approximately $5.2 billion maintenance backlog of the National Park Service. The measure which included an amendment by Sen. Michael Lee (R-UT) to provide a definition of the term “deferred maintenance,” passed out of committee 15-5.
In the House H.R. 1225, Restore Our Parks and Public Lands Act, introduced by Rep. Bishop (R-UT) was amended by Natural Resources Committee and discharged by the House Education and Labor Committee on Oct. 22nd. H.R. 1225 is currently awaiting floor activity in the House.
I have written the following email to my representative, Julia Brownley:
https://juliabrownley.house.gov/contact/email-me/
Please support H.R. 1225 and do MORE for multiple use access to the public lands! The USFS/BLM and Congress have done a POOR job of maintaining our public lands, especially for the "mixed uses" that enjoy them. The answer for many years has been to close public land to public access because of "no funds" in the name of management. Closing public lands to access is IRRESPONSIBLE management. Your District is a prime example that needs to be fixed by this bill; considering the Angeles National Forest and the Los Padres National Forest which have a very high demand from many different users but have a very high number of roads, trails & campsites closed due to a lack of maintenance.
Ride with the wind and keep the rubber side down. webmaster@vcmc.info