H.R. 1791

Mountains to Sound Greenway National Heritage Act

STATEMENT OF JOY BEASLEY, ACTING ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR, CULTURAL RESOURCES, PARTNERSHIPS, AND SCIENCE, PARK SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, BEFORE THE HOUSE NATURAL RESOURCES SUBCOMMITTEE ON FEDERAL LANDS, CONCERNING H.R. 1791, TO ESTABLISH THE MOUNTAINS TO SOUND GREENWAY NATIONAL HERITAGE AREA, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES.

APRIL 11, 2018

Chairman McClintock, Ranking Member Hanabusa, and members of the Subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to present the Department of the Interior’s views on H.R. 1791, a bill to establish the Mountains to Sound Greenway National Heritage Area in the State of Washington, and for other purposes.

The Department recognizes that the Mountains to Sound Greenway National Heritage Area has been found to meet the National Park Service’s interim criteria for designation as a national heritage area.  However, in order to focus resources on reducing the National Park Service’s $11.6 billion deferred maintenance backlog and addressing other critical national park needs, funding for national heritage areas is not a priority in the Administration’s FY 2019 budget.  Under these circumstances, we believe it would be unwise to designate a new national heritage area at this time.

Most of the language in H.R. 1791 is standard for national heritage area designation legislation that Congress has approved in the last decade.  However, the bill differs from such legislation in that it does not include an authorization of appropriations, or cost-share provisions.  The absence of any such limitations could be interpreted to mean that the bill authorizes any amount of appropriations.

Mr. Chairman, this concludes my testimony. I would be happy to answer any questions you or any other members of the subcommittee may have.

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