Ohio's National Park sites could get $114 million in federal rehabilitation funding

A bipartisan proposal intended to restore the country’s national park system and back by President Donald Trump would infuse $114 million for such operations in Ohio.

Among the monies would include nearly $52 million for the Cuyahoga National Park in Northeast Ohio, $48.4 million for the Perry’s Victory and International Peace Memorial on South Bass Island, and $3.5 million for the Hopewell Cultural National Park in Ross County.

Spearheading the “Restore Our Parks Act” is Ohio’s junior Senator Rob Portman (R).

The measure is part of a broader initiative called “The Great American Outdoors Act” and intended to break free the $12 billion logjam in deferred maintenance projects that has plagued the national parks system for years, says Portman.

In all, says Portman also, more than $20 billion in backlogged maintenance projects has hammered the country’s entire fleet of public lands; a detail the Land and Water Conservation Fund was intended to address.

This fund is fueled from royalties on oil and gas leases and other energy leases to federal lands, with these dollars designated for the country’s national parks in order to take care of deferred maintenance, Portman says.

The National Park Service system now comprises 84 million acres of land and historical sites that attract 330 million visitors annually Portman says.

“In fact, from 2006 to 2017, annual visitation in our parks increased by about 58 million people,” Portman said.

“The Restore Our Parks Act, is all about stewardship. It’s about taking better care of what we have. Not a penny of it can be used for expansion.”

If passed by Congress and signed by Trump, the following Ohio’s National Park sites would see: Charles Young Buffalo Soldiers National Monument (Wilberforce) - $2.4 million; Ohio Cuyahoga Valley National Park (Summit and Cuyahoga counties) - $51.8 million; Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park (Dayton) - $3.6 million; First Ladies National Historic Site (Canton) - $882,206; Hopewell Culture National Historic Park (Ross County) - $3.5 million; James A. Garfield National Historic Site (Mentor) - $1.2 million; Perry’s Victory and International Peace Memorial (South Bass Island) - $48.4 million; William Howard Taft National Historic Site(Cincinnati) - $2.2 million.

A spokesman for Ohio’s senior senator Sherrod Brown could not be reached for comment.

- Jeffrey L. Frischkorn

JFrischk@Ameritech.net

JFrischk4@gmail.com