Spending on national parks should be increased by at least $700 million over the next seven years, an independent panel urged Congress last week.
The additional spending should bring increased tourism, promote enjoyment of the outdoors and help preserve national treasures for future generations, the panel said.
Voyageurs National Park Superintendent Mike Ward told The Daily Journal that the park is unsure what, if any, changes this would have on VNP, as the initiative is still in Washington.
“I have no idea how it’s going to affect us anytime soon,” Ward said.
The bipartisan National Parks Second Century Commission also urged President Barack Obama to appoint a panel charged with promoting the parks and raising private money in time for the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service in 2016. It also called for an expansion of the National Park Service’s mission, making education an explicit part of the agency for the first time.
‘‘America stands at a crossroads: Down one road lie missed opportunities and irretrievable loss of our natural and cultural legacy. Down the other is a future in which national parks — protected forever and for all — help forge a better world,’’ the commission said.
The panel, chaired by former Sens. Howard Baker of Tennessee and J. Bennett Johnston of Louisiana, presented the 52-page report to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar last Thursday.
Salazar said a spending request by Obama for the next fiscal year would increase park spending by $100 million — exactly the amount the group recommended.
Salazar called preserving and enhancing national parks a solemn obligation, and said he and Obama are committed to honoring that pledge.
Jeffrey Olson, spokesman for the National Park Service, said that while there is no budget set for the NPS next year, there is a “positive buzz” about the parks, both in the U.S. Congress and by visitors around the country.
“There has been an interest to add money to the national park budgets to do maintenance and repairs that will get the parks ready for the next century of operation,” Olson said. He added that, “In difficult budget times, Congress has treated us very well.”
Wednesday, the Senate worked to pass legislation that would temporarily extend spending on most federal programs, including the national parks, at current levels. However, Olson said that the final House and Senate budgets look to increase park funding in 2010 from just over $2.5 billion to around $2.7 billion.
Projects on the horizon for the National Park Service include financing a climate change study program to gather data about the landscapes, as well as youth initiative activities in national parks, according to Olson.
He added that the park visitors have a “great impact on the financial picture of the parks,” because they are able to speak to their officials and tell them what the parks are doing right, and what could be improved upon.
Olson said that the National Park Service is looking to set a new record for park attendance this year. He said that “a lot of good things lined up” to increase that attendance, including the presidential inauguration, visits from the First Family to two national parks over the summer, free admission days over the summer, overall pleasant weather, and summer gas prices lower than in previous years.
This year, Voyageurs National Park has seen an increase of 2,460 people over last year’s January through August attendance during the same time period. That makes for a total of 183,339 visitors.
‘‘These are beautiful places and historic sites that have been passed on to us by past generations, and now we have a responsibility to pass on these treasures to our children and grandchildren,’’ Salazar said.
Baker, a Republican, and Johnston, a Democrat, worked on the report for 13 months. The commission was made up of 26 national leaders and experts, including scientists, historians, conservationists, academics, business leaders, policy experts and retired National Park Service executives. The panel held five public hearings at national parks across the country.
‘‘The national parks truly are America’s best idea, and these recommendations will make the national parks even more central to the lives of all Americans,’’ Johnston said.
Baker called park expansion ‘‘an issue whose time has come,’’ adding that for the first time, he senses that the American public ‘‘has come to understand the importance of the park system in a broad-based way.’’
Baker and other speakers were confident the report would benefit from a coincidence of timing: PBS is airing a six-part documentary series on national parks directed by Ken Burns.
The series, called ‘‘The National Parks: America’s Best Idea,’’ is scheduled to run through Oct. 2 on most PBS stations.
Voyageurs National Park held a screening of the film on Friday, as part of their weekend activities coinciding with the groundbreaking on the new park headquarters and the dedication of the park’s new tour boat, as well as the premier of another film called “Minnesota’s National Park Legacy.”
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The Associated Press contributed to this report.
