Office of the Secretary |
CONTACT: Hugh
Vickery
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For Immediate Release: July 7, 2004 |
202-208-6416
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MEDIA ADVISORY Interior Secretary
Norton to Release Report Showing More Than 4,000 Improvement Projects Completed, Underway or Planned |
(WASHINGTON) - Interior Secretary Gale Norton will release a report on America's national parks Thursday showing record funding for park operations. The report also details major efforts underway to improve, repair and maintain facilities throughout the system. "President Bush has
committed a record amount of funding to our parks and we are seeing
the results across the country from Acadia National Park in Maine to
Yellowstone in Wyoming to Pearl Harbor in Hawaii," Norton said.
"Visitors are seeing improved trails, more accessible campgrounds,
rehabilitated visitor centers, better roads, stabilized historic structures
and reduced environmental threats through better sewer, water and drinking
systems." "The Park Service operations
budget is $1.8 billion, or 15 percent higher than when this administration
took office," she said. "We have undertaken 4,000 improvement
projects and tripled funding to preserve and study wildlife and other
natural resources in the parks."
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