USNPS director touts stimulus fund benefits to parks
National Park Service Director Jon Jarvis yesterday praised the Grand Teton National Park rangers who rescued 16 climbers last week and said Recovery Act funds were being used to fix park infrastructure in Yellowstone National Park, Grand Teton and elsewhere.
Jarvis made the comments in an exclusive telephone interview from Big Sky, Mont., during a trip to Yellowstone National Park and Grand Canyon National Park with Vice President Joe Biden. The trip was used to trumpet the $750 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds and $140 million in Federal Highway Administration funds that the Obama administration allocated for the National Park Service.
Grand Teton received $18.8 million in Recovery Act funds for projects such as the Moose headquarters rehabilitation project. Yellowstone received $11.5 million for projects including the Madison wastewater project. Those totals do not include highway funds, some of which were also part of the Recovery Act funding.