I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 4291 

Making emergency supplemental appropriations for fiscal year 2010 for the 

National Park Service, National Forest Service, and Federal Highway 

Administration for public land rehabilitation, road projects, and job creation. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

DECEMBER 11, 2009 

Ms. LINDA T. SA ́NCHEZ of California (for herself and Mr. BLUMENAUER) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Appropriations, and in addition to the Committee on the Budget, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

Making emergency supplemental appropriations for fiscal 

year 2010 for the National Park Service, National Forest 

Service, and Federal Highway Administration for public 

land rehabilitation, road projects, and job creation. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Public Lands Rehabili5 tation and Job Creation Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL FINDINGS. 

2 The Congress finds the following: 

3 (1) The National Park Service’s (NPS) 67,000 

4 park assets include over 17,000 buildings, 4,000 

5 housing units, 1,200 campgrounds, 3,000 water and 

6 waste water systems, 5,000 miles of paved roadways, 

7 and 18,000 miles of trails; in total, these facilities 

8 have a replacement value in excess of $100 billion. 

9 (2) The NPS’s maintenance backlog can be 

10 traced to two primary causes, the first being that 

11 new parks were added to the National Park System 

12 with facilities that were frequently in poor condition 

13 when transferred, and the second being that inad14 equate funding and staffing over a number of years 

15 caused routine maintenance to slip, slowly but stead16 ily causing minor problems to compound, leading to 

17 the need for major repairs and in some cases, new 

18 construction. 

19 (3) Over one-half of the backlogged infrastruc20 ture repair and rehabilitation projects fall under the 

21 category of roads and road-related infrastructure. 

22 (4) To now reverse the backlog which has 

23 grown to nearly $10 billion requires a concerted ef24 fort involving necessary repairs and full funding of 

25 cyclic and routine maintenance programs so that 


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1 new problems can be treated at the earliest possible 

2 stage. 

3 (5) Although the American Recovery and Rein4 vestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) provided a much 

5 needed infusion of funds to kick-start repairs in a 

6 number of parks, the NPS has identified approxi7 mately $3.2 billion in highest priority critical system 

8 deferred maintenance projects (those projects most 

9 important to park operations) remaining. 

10 (6) Because the ARRA-funded projects have de11 pleted the number of shovel-ready projects that NPS 

12 had ready for construction, the NPS recommends 

13 that any funding increase should be phased in over 

14 several years in order to allow the NPS to rebuild 

15 its staff and support capacity. 

16 (7) The NPS identifies preventive maintenance 

17 as the key to slowing the growth of the maintenance 

18 backlog. 

19 (8) The NPS cyclic maintenance program is 

20 currently funded at about $100 million a year and 

21 is designed to perform preventive maintenance 

22 through roof repairs, painting, and road resealing. 

23 The NPS maintenance management system indi24 cates a need to increase this fund to $350 million 


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1 annually, an increase of $250 million from current 

2 levels. 

3 (9) The NPS warns that any gains made 

4 through increased cyclic maintenance efforts will be 

5 minimized unless additional park operational main6 tenance is also increased. 

7 (10) At the present time, the NPS has approxi8 mately 8,000 permanent and seasonal maintenance 

9 employees working within its 391 units. Virtually 

10 every park manager asserts that their current staff11 ing level is woefully insufficient to take on identified 

12 maintenance needs, and as a result, needed repairs 

13 go unaddressed, ultimately adding to an ever grow14 ing backlog. 

15 (11) Evaluations by outside groups and individ16 uals have routinely identified a 50 to 100 percent 

17 maintenance staffing shortfall in the parks they have 

18 visited. To increase maintenance staffing by 50 per19 cent would require an additional operational increase 

20 of $350 million a year. 

21 (12) The NPS estimates that in 4 to 6 months 

22 after funding is provided, it can prepare needed 

23 plans and complete most of its hiring efforts for ad24 ditional construction and maintenance work. 


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1 (13) With respect to National Forests, accord2 ing to the Wilderness Society, road removal and rec3 lamation, rather than road closings, are the best and 

4 most long-term solution to addressing the negative 

5 impacts of roads on forest ecosystems. With the 

6 proper training, roads and culverts can be reclaimed 

7 and slopes recontoured, using the very same exca8 vators, bulldozers, and dump trucks used to build 

9 the roads in the first place. 

10 (14) For rural communities, road removal and 

11 reclamation has the potential to create high-skill, 

12 high-wage, locally based jobs, to improve community 

13 water supplies, and to enrich fishing and hunting 

14 opportunities. Studies in Oregon and northern Cali15 fornia have shown that roadwork requiring heavy 

16 equipment tends to be more locally based than 

17 thinning and planting work, where crews often come 

18 from hundreds of miles away. 

19 (15) In the long run, the Forest Service esti20 mates that road and culvert reclamation would save 

21 taxpayers up to $1,200 per mile in reduced mainte22 nance costs annually. Additionally, each $1 million 

23 spent on road decommissioning will support an esti24 mated 11 direct jobs for heavy equipment operators 

25 and 3.5 jobs for other forest workers. 


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1 (16) While shovel-ready projects are good for 

2 rural communities, the environment, and ultimately 

3 for taxpayers, the reality is that the Forest Service 

4 currently has only a limited number of shovel-ready 

5 roads-related projects on which to begin work. To 

6 successfully allocate funding, the Forest Service 

7 needs to identify its minimum road system, design 

8 the engineering on projects to remove unneeded 

9 roads, and do the project level National Environ10 mental Policy Act analysis before it can break 

11 ground. Like shovel-ready projects, this necessary 

12 analysis work would also create family-wage, high13 skilled, green jobs. 

14 SEC. 3. EMERGENCY SUPPLEMENTAL APPROPRIATIONS. 

15 The following sums are appropriated, out of any 

16 money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, to pro17 vide emergency supplemental appropriations for fiscal year 

18 2010: 

19 DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

20 NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

21 OPERATION OF THE NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

22 For an additional amount for ‘‘Operation of the Na23 tional Park Service’’ for cyclic and routine maintenance 

24 and repair of visitor use, cultural resource, and other park 

25 use facilities, $1,250,000,000, to remain available until 


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1 September 30, 2014: Provided, That the amount under 

2 this heading is designated as an emergency requirement 

3 and necessary to meet emergency needs pursuant to sec4 tions 403 and 423(b) of S. Con. Res. 13 (111th Congress), 

5 the concurrent resolution on the budget for fiscal year 

6 2010. 

7 CONSTRUCTION

8 For an additional amount for ‘‘Construction’’ for 

9 major repairs and construction, $2,000,000,000, to re10 main available until September 30, 2014: Provided, That 

11 the amount under this heading is designated as an emer12 gency requirement and necessary to meet emergency needs 

13 pursuant to sections 403 and 423(b) of S. Con. Res. 13 

14 (111th Congress), the concurrent resolution on the budget 

15 for fiscal year 2010. 

16 DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

17 FOREST SERVICE

18 CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT AND MAINTENANCE

19 For an additional amount for ‘‘Capital Improvement 

20 and Maintenance’’ for road-related projects, including 

21 road decommissioning, $500,000,000, to remain available 

22 until September 30, 2014: Provided, That at least 

23 $100,000,000 of the amount appropriated under this 

24 heading shall be for identifying a minimum road system 

25 for every national forest and grassland pursuant to section 


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1 212.5(b) of title 36, Code of Federal Regulations, as in 

2 effect on December 10, 2009: Provided further, That at 

3 least $100,000,000 of the amount appropriated under this 

4 heading shall be for inventorying, designing, engineering, 

5 and executing the work to decommission unauthorized 

6 roads: Provided further, The activities conducted under 

7 this heading may be carried out through contracting with 

8 private entities: Provided further, That the amount under 

9 this heading is designated as an emergency requirement 

10 and necessary to meet emergency needs pursuant to sec11 tions 403 and 423(b) of S. Con. Res. 13 (111th Congress), 

12 the concurrent resolution on the budget for fiscal year 

13 2010. 

14 DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

15 FEDERAL HIGHWAY ADMINISTRATION

16 HIGHWAY INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENT

17 For an additional amount for ‘‘Highway Infrastruc18 ture Investment’’ for the Park Roads and Parkways pro19 gram for critical park road and transportation-related in20 frastructure repairs and maintenance under section 204 

21 of title 23, United States Code, $1,000,000,000, to remain 

22 available until September 30, 2014: Provided, That the 

23 amount under this heading is designated as an emergency 

24 requirement and necessary to meet emergency needs pur25 suant to sections 403 and 423(b) of S. Con. Res. 13 


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1 (111th Congress), the concurrent resolution on the budget 

2 for fiscal year 2010. 

Æ 


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