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national parks
Tell Congress: It’s the Perfect Time for Fourth Graders to Go to a Park
We are working to build bipartisan support for the Every Kid Outdoors Act, a bill that would make permanent free national park admission for fourth graders and their families, and expand the program to fifth graders.
Oct 23, 2024
As we head into fall, now is the perfect time for families to plan their next escape from the stresses of school, work, and everyday life—and there’s no better place to go than the outdoors. From Acadia to Everglades to Yosemite, our national parks provide opportunities for relaxation, camping, day hikes, and science education.
We are two people who understand—and love—the outdoors. I, Rep. Katie Porter (D-Calif.), am a single mom of three kids and an avid national park visitor, and serve on the House Natural Resources Committee, which oversees federal land and our environment. And I, Tigran Nahabedian, am a student and youth adviser at Outdoors Alliance for Kids. We’re both passionate about exploring our national treasures and making it easier for all Americans to experience our country’s beautiful parks and lands.
Some families might be daunted at the idea of visiting our national parks. For some, the cost of entry and other assorted expenses can feel prohibitive. Fortunately, the Every Kid Outdoors program helps remove one of those barriers by granting fourth graders and their families an annual pass that allows them free entry to all federal public lands, waters, and shores. Dedicated park staff, both in person and online, can help families plan a fun, safe trip, appropriate for every level of outdoor experience, fitness, and budget.
If you love visiting our national treasures and agree that everyone should have the ability to enjoy the outdoors, make your voice heard.
Every year, over 200,000 kids and their families get a pass, helping connect them with nature and history. These affordable vacation and recreation opportunities help kids learn about conservation and wildlife, and teach important lessons about our nation’s history, geology, biology, and more. The Every Kid Outdoors program sparks passions that can shape future careers in science or recreation and creates lifelong memories.
But, if Congress doesn’t act to extend and fund the program, it will expire in 2026, leaving families to pay the full cost of admission to our public lands. Respectively, in our roles as parent and congressmember, and as a student and an outdoor advocate, we have seen the benefits of this program firsthand, which is why we are working to build bipartisan support for the Every Kid Outdoors Act. This bill would make permanent the free admission for fourth graders and their families, and expand the program to fifth graders.
Getting families on our federal lands goes beyond the direct benefits of helping kids learn and grow. Our national parks, forests, and marine sanctuaries are cornerstones of our economy, infrastructure, and communities. That diner serving bananas foster pancakes half an hour from the campsite or that roadside shop stocking magnets and bug spray rely on thriving national parks that attract millions of visitors each year. A National Park Service report in 2023 found that over 325 million visitors spent $26.4 billion in communities within 60 miles of a national park. Outdoor recreation alone accounted for$560 billion of the United States’ 2022 GDP.
So, if you love visiting our national treasures and agree that everyone should have the ability to enjoy the outdoors, make your voice heard. Be loud and be proud about your support for the Every Kids Outdoors program and the Every Kid Outdoors Act so that generations of families can continue to make memories in our national parks. Talk about the program with your friends, family, and neighbors—and if you know a fourth grader, tell them to get an Every Kid Outdoors pass. It’s the perfect time to visit a park.
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Lead Ammo Harms Wildlife and Undermines the Mission of Our National Parks
Banning lead from our national parks would be one of the single biggest conservation advances in a generation.
Aug 27, 2024
Earlier this month, a California condor, the first of its kind to hatch and take flight in Zion National Park, died of lead poisoning just shy of its fifth birthday. Shockingly, one of this condor’s siblings was earlier found to have the highest recorded lead value ever documented in a live bird over the entire 28-year history of the condor release program.
Lead poisoning remains the leading cause of diagnosed death among California condors. About 90% of condors trapped and tested during this past year had blood lead levels indicating lead exposure. As scavengers, condors ingest lead shot from carcasses of animals killed with lead-based ammunition.
But condors are not the only victims. Lead is a leading threat to all national park birdlife, especially bald eagles, hawks, and other raptors. Lead fragments from spent shells contaminate the entire wildlife food chain.
It’s time for decisive action to protect the wildlife that our national parks were created to preserve.
While most parks by law do not permit hunting, a significant number do. Of the 429 national parks, 76 allow various types of hunting—recreational, subsistence, or tribal hunting. These parks (the largest of which are in Alaska) cover more than 60% of land within the entire national park system. In addition, more than 85% of parks with fish (213 in all) are open for fishing with lead tackle.
The impact is devastating. More than 130 park wildlife species are exposed to or killed by ingesting lead or prey contaminated with lead.
These wildlife deaths are preventable. Since November of 2022, Interior Secretary Deborah Haaland, the cabinet officer overseeing the National Park Service, has had a proposed rule sitting on her desk that would end the use of lead-based ammunition and fishing tackle in all park units. Despite this, no action has been taken on this rule-making petition.
In contrast to the Park Service’s total inaction, its sister agency, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, (FWS) has declared that “lead ammunition and tackle have negative impacts on both wildlife and human health.” The FWS has taken the first tentative steps to reduce or eliminate the use of lead ammunition by:
- Imposing partial bans on lead ammunition in certain refuges where new hunting opportunities have opened up;
- Phasing out of lead ammunition on three refuges newly opened to hunting; and
- Developing a pilot program to reimburse hunters for using lead-free ammunition.
Though these steps do not constitute a complete ban on lead ammunition, they represent a significant step forward, especially considering that nearly 80% of wildlife refuges and other management districts offer hunting and fishing access.
Unfortunately, wildlife protection does not appear to be a high priority for National Park Service Director Chuck Sams and his leadership team. Earlier this year, he approved questionable hunting practices, such as killing bear cubs and wolf pups in their dens, using dogs and artificial lights to hunt black bears, and shooting swimming caribou from motorboats across more than 22 million acres of Park Service administered lands in Alaska.
These are not the actions of a conservation-focused agency.
Banning lead from our national parks would be one of the single biggest conservation advances in a generation. Such a move would place the Park Service alongside 26 states and countries that have already banned lead ammunition.
The ecological stakes are profound. It’s time for decisive action to protect the wildlife that our national parks were created to preserve.
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With Attention on Presidential Contest, GOP Goes on Austerity Rampage
One leading Democrat warned Republicans' spending proposals would "demolish public education" and "let corporate price gouging run rampant."
Jul 06, 2024
With much of the public's attention on the looming presidential election and high-stakes jockeying over who will take on Donald Trump in November, congressional Republicans in recent weeks have provided a stark look at their plans for federal spending should their party win back control of the presidency and the Senate.
The appropriations process for Fiscal Year 2025, which begins in October, is currently underway, with congressional committees engaging in government funding debates that are likely to continue beyond the November elections.
In keeping with their longstanding support for austerity for ordinary Americans, Republicans in the House and Senate have proposed steep cuts to a wide range of federal programs and agencies dealing with education, environmental protection, Social Security, election administration, national parks, nutrition assistance, antitrust enforcement, global health, and more—all while they pursue additional deficit-exploding tax giveaways for the rich.
"Some of the most concerning policy riders in the House Fiscal Year 2025 budget bills include mandates for new oil and gas leasing, prohibitions on the establishment of important protected areas for wildlife and natural ecosystems, and limitations that hinder federal agency ability to regulate polluters, putting water quality, air quality, and the climate at risk," the Surfrider Foundation noted in a statement earlier this week.
"Two of the key federal agencies that administer these programs are the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), yet the House budget bills call for a 20% funding cut to the EPA, and a 12% funding cut to NOAA," the group added.
Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, has been attempting to sound the alarm over the GOP's proposals, which she has warned would "demolish public education," endanger the health of women and children, gut mental health programs, "let corporate price gouging run rampant," and "expose children to dangerous products."
"I respectfully request that those on the other side of the aisle go back to the drawing board and come back with a new slate of workable subcommittee allocations across all 12 bills so that we can proceed with the important business of our 2025 appropriations work," DeLauro said during a markup hearing last month.
But Republican lawmakers have made clear that they are bent on pursuing steep cuts across the federal government, proposing spending levels well below the caps implemented by the Fiscal Responsibility Act, legislation that suspended the debt limit through January 1, 2025.
"House Republicans now intend to fund 2025 non-defense appropriations bills 6% below the 2024 level rather than provide the 1% increase" negotiated in 2023, noted David Reich, a senior fellow at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
Republicans in the Senate have also pushed for damaging cuts to non-military spending as the upper chamber prepares to hold markup hearings for its appropriations bills next week.
The Food Research & Action Center warned in a recent statement that legislation put forth by the top Republican on the Senate Agriculture Committee would slash Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits by $30 billion over the next decade, jeopardizing critical food aid for tens of millions of people as hunger rises.
According to a May report by Feeding America, "the extra amount of money that people facing hunger said they need to have enough food" has "reached its highest point in the last 20 years."
Congressional Republicans' spending proposals for next fiscal year are in line with the draconian cuts pushed by Project 2025, a sweeping far-right agenda from which Trump—the presumptive GOP presidential nominee—is attempting to distance himself as horror grows over the initiative's vision for the country.
Project 2025's 922-page policy document calls for more punitive work requirements for SNAP recipients, massive cuts to Medicaid, the abolition of the Department of Education, the elimination of major clean energy programs, and the gutting of key Wall Street regulations.
"Despite Trump's claims to have 'nothing to do with' Project 2025, his administration and campaign personnel contributed to the project," The Intercept's Shawn Musgrave wrote Friday. "Former Trump administration officials wrote and edited massive chunks of the manifesto. One of its two primary editors, Paul Dans, who directs the Heritage Foundation's 2025 Presidential Transition Project, served as the White House liaison for the U.S. Office of Personnel Management during the Trump administration, among other positions."
"Rick Dearborn, who was briefly Trump's deputy chief of staff, wrote the White House chapter," Musgrave added. "Russ Vought, Trump's director of the Office of Management and Budget, wrote the chapter on OMB and similar executive offices."
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