Norton Writes to NPS Asking for Cleanup of Parkland East of the Anacostia River

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) sent a letter this week to Margaret Everson, Acting Director of the National Park Service (NPS), asking that more resources be devoted to keep NPS parkland east of the Anacostia River welcoming, accessible and clean. Norton argued that accessible outdoor space is even more important during a pandemic, when being outside is often safer than being indoors. Norton was instrumental in helping to enact the Great American Outdoors Act, which will provide funding for NPS to address deferred maintenance, and in her letter, Norton urged NPS to use some of this funding for parkland east of the river.

“I worked hard for passage of the Great American Outdoors Act to provide funding for NPS deferred maintenance because NPS owns most of the parkland in D.C.,” Norton said. “I intend to work with Congress and the National Park Service to make sure that the funds for NPS parks in the District are directed where they are most needed. Our residents in Southeast should not be left to cleaning their parks of debris themselves and to the neglect that has finally come to public attention.”

The letter follows.

Margaret Everson

Acting Director

National Park Service

1849 C Street NW

Washington, DC 20240

Dear Acting Director Everson:

I write to bring to your attention a major article in the Washington Post yesterday.  The article, titled “A fight for forest equity in Southeast D.C. takes on new urgency amid pandemic,”  describes, and illustrates with pictures, the outrageous conditions of National Park Service (NPS) parks east of the Anacostia River and the commendable efforts of Southeast D.C. residents to clean up the parks.  I am asking NPS to devote more resources to its parks east of the river to make them accessible, clean and welcoming to the surrounding community, especially as access to outdoor space is critical for mental and physical health during the coronavirus pandemic.

I recognize that NPS has approximately $12 billion in deferred maintenance, including $1.3 billion in the many NPS parks in the District of Columbia.  However, I was instrumental in helping to enact the Great American Outdoors Act, which will provide funding to NPS to address this deferred maintenance, and I urge you to dedicate some of this funding to NPS parks east of the river.

As described in the article, this parkland is rife with invasive species and litter and lacks official trails and paths that would make it accessible to the surrounding public.  This parkland is in such an atrocious condition that residents have been trying to clear the trash that NPS has neglected to clear.  This parkland should be a place where our most vulnerable and historically overlooked D.C. residents can run, walk, bike, play and marvel at the natural wonder that is our collective backyard.  This is even more urgent during the coronavirus pandemic, which has disproportionately impacted communities east of the river.  Access to outdoor recreational space is essential to the health and safety of the D.C. residents most at risk during this critical period of social distancing.

Please respond in writing detailing NPS’s plans to address the conditions described in the article by December 21, 2020.

Sincerely,

Eleanor Holmes Norton