Questions to the Presidential Candidates<< Previous Question | 1 | 2 | 3 | Next Question >>

The 2016 centennial of the National Park Service is a major opportunity to showcase our national parks not just as the natural treasures they are, but as models of conservation science, resource management, and education. As First Lady, I was proud to highlight the role of our national parks to our national heritage. It will be up to the next President, Congress, advocates like NPCA, the private sector, and all Americans to pull together to ready our parks for this important milestone. I believe that this effort starts with new funding for our parks. As President, I will propose significant increases in my budgets, and I will work with Congress to make those increases a reality. With an increased public commitment to our parks, I believe that we can more effectively reach out to the private sector to contribute to this effort. But increased funding by itself is not enough. We must tackle the maintenance backlog at the parks; we must encourage innovation and strive to better use science in managing our parks; we must reduce pollution and other threats to our parks; and we must make sure that our parks serve all visitors. To promote the centennial, I will launch a major celebration and public awareness campaign. My goal will be to remind Americans and their representatives in Congress of the pride we all feel for our national parks, the special role they play in our lives and our environment, and the resources and commitment needed to restore and protect them. I will seize this moment to galvanize support for our national parks, and I will do everything in my power to leave our national park system much stronger than it is today.

The American people are deeply proud of our park system, and we want our children and future generations to be able to enjoy our parks at their best, unimpaired by neglect or shortsighted policies. As we look forward to the centennial of the National Park System, we have an excellent opportunity to highlight for the public the many threats and challenges our parks face - particularly the shameful backlog of vital maintenance and park protection projects. Focusing public attention and marshalling the support necessary to solve these challenges is predominantly a matter of leadership, and, as president, I will provide. I strongly support the establishment of a National Park Centennial Fund that would provide the resources needed to meet the operations and maintenance backlogs. Our objective must not be to establish the fund by the centennial; it must be to eliminate the backlogs and restore our parks well in advance of this historic occasion, and to ensure that today and for the next 100 years, our parks enjoy the resources, wise management, and attention befitting their importance to our country and the world.

I am committed to addressing the funding shortfall that the National Parks Service has experienced, and ensuring that by 2016, the National Parks Service centennial, the national park system has the resources it needs to meet its unmet maintenance and operational needs.

Mike Gravel
No response received

Ron Paul
No response received

Mike Huckabee
No response received