As a part of a join-letter effort organized by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Preservation Maryland added its name to two national letters encouraging the United States Congress to invest and support the National Parks.
Restore Our Parks Act
Preservation Maryland joined with 152 signers representing organizations in 41 states and the District of Columbia to voice support for the Restore Our Parks Act (S. 3172; H.R. 6510), which, if passed, would invest billions of dollars towards addressing the park system’s massive maintenance backlog. The letter notes that “after over 100 years of operation and inconsistent public funding, the National Park System faces a deferred maintenance backlog estimated at $11.6 billion, and according to FY17 data, 47% of the backlog is attributed to historic assets.”
Support for leasing historic structures in national parks
In addition to supporting the financial investment of the Restore Our Parks Act, Preservation Maryland also joined with the National Trust for Historic Preservation to support a letter aimed at encouraging and expanding leasing of historic structures within park units. As the letter explained, “Leasing of historic buildings in the National Park System is an effective and proven public-private partnership that should be one of the options to abate the NPS deferred maintenance backlog.”