Current Stories

• House Passes Landmark Conservation Bill
• NPS Expands Rivers & Trails Program to Help Community-Led Conservation
• HUD, USDA Announce Partnership To Revitalize Urban Parks

Past Stories

• Millennium Trails Program Announces Community Trails Applications

• Call to Arms for River Enthusiasts! Participate in Rivers 2000!

• Gateways to the Chesapeake

• Virginia "River of Words" Poetry and Art Contest

House Passes Landmark Conservation Bill

On May 11, 2000, the U.S. House of Representatives passed, 315 to 102, the “Conservation and Reinvestment Act (CARA),” landmark bipartisan legislation, which provides more $2.8 billion in annual conservation funding including $900 million annually for the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) and $125 million for the Urban Park and Recreation Recovery Program (UPARR). Lead by House Resources Committee Chairman Don Young (R-AK) and Representative George Miller (D-CA), CARA received strong bipartisan support, including votes from 118 House Republicans. Members of Congress and the press attributed the House victory to the broad and unique coalition of organizations and interests -- from conservation groups to Campfire Girls -- supported this effort. To see how your Congressional Delegation voted on final passage in the House today, you can visit the "Thomas" website.

With the legislative clock ticking, attention is now focused on the U.S. Senate where several versions of CARA are pending before the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. Governors, mayors, county leaders, conservation and wildlife organizations, park and recreation associations, the sporting goods and outdoor recreation industries, youth sports groups, cultural and historical preservationists, and the trails community are among those advocating for passage of comprehensive conservation and reinvestment legislation this year.

NPS Expands Rivers & Trails Program to Help Community-Led Conservation

The NPS Rivers, Trails, and Conservation Assistance Program will expand its technical assistance program and open four new field offices this year to assist 25 additional local conservation efforts in communities around the country. Rivers & Trails works with local citizens groups to preserve valuable open spaces, revitalize nearby rivers, and develop trail and greenway networks.

"When the public thinks of the National Park Service, they think of beloved national treasures like Yosemite and Gettysburg, but our mission actually extends far beyond the boundaries of these majestic national parks," NPS Director Robert Stanton explained in announcing the expansion. "The Service also seeks to preserve natural treasures close to home and that is where the Rivers, Trails, and Conservation Assistance Program is leading the way."

New offices, staffed by one or two NPS professionals, will be opened in Los Angeles, California, Salt Lake City, Utah, Chattanooga, Tennessee, and Minneapolis, Minnesota, bringing to 30 the number of Rivers & Trails offices in all regions of the nation. By placing NPS staff close to the communities that have asked for their help, Rivers & Trails can better help locally-led conservation efforts.

The additional help is made possible by a $500,000 funding increase for FY 2000 to Rivers & Trail's existing $7.2 million budget. The increase has permitted the program to help about 250 projects in FY 2000 - 25 more than in 1999. The President's FY 2001 budget proposes an additional increase of $500,000 for the Rivers & Trails program. This funding would allow NPS to help 25 more community conservation projects and place additional staff in communities.

Rivers & Trails does not direct or fund projects, but when a community has decided to conserve close-to-home landscapes, Rivers & Trails can help it get started by providing a national network of conservation and recreation-planning professionals to assist with nature-based recreation development and environmental, historic and cultural conservation projects.

Since its inception, the program has participated in more than 1,000 projects in all 50 states. In FY 1999, Rivers & Trails assistance led to the protection of 1,400 miles of trails, 400 miles of river corridor, and 11,000 acres of open space nationwide.

Rivers & Trails is one of a number of programs NPS set up to better serve the needs of communities and their local conservation efforts. Across the nation, communities ask for and receive help in establishing new trail systems, restoring degraded rivers, acquiring federal surplus lands for parks and recreation, and protecting historic and cultural places important to them. These programs include Federal Lands to Parks, Land and Water Conservation Fund, Long Distance Trails, Urban Parks and Recreation Recovery, and Wild and Scenic Rivers.

For more information on the Rivers, Trails, and Conservation Assistance Program, visit the website at www.ncrc.nps.gov/rtca or contact Samuel N. Stokes, chief, Rivers, Trails, and Conservation Assistance Program, National Park Service, 1849 C Street NW, Washington, DC, 20240, or by telephone at 202-565-1200.

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HUD, USDA Announce Partnership To Revitalize Urban Parks

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) have announced a new partnership to help promote the greening and revitalization of America's urban areas. The agreement will focus on enhancing and maintaining green and open spaces at public housing developments and other sites in selected cities and towns across the country. The basis of the partnership will be a collaboration between HUD's HOPE VI Program, which provides financial assistance for the revitalization of public housing, and the USDA's Forest Service and Natural Resources Conservation Service, which will provide tree planting, maintenance and other conservation services. For further information, contact USDA at (202) 720-4623, or HUD at (202) 708-0980.

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