Latest news with #Flight93NationalMemorial
Straits Times
02-06-2025
- Politics
- Straits Times
Trump plans to offload national park sites, but states don't want them
The Trump administration may walk away from Florida's Big Cypress National Preserve and other areas that aren't among the 63 with 'national park' in their name. PHOTO: AFP FLORIDA - Florida's Big Cypress National Preserve sprawls north from Everglades National Park over 729,000 acres of swamp, an ancient forest that protects the endangered Florida panther and the pristine waters of the Everglades – the source of drinking water for millions of south Floridians. About 2.2 million people visited in 2024, roughly three times the number at Everglades National Park, according to National Park Service (NPS) data. The preserve and others like it are 'typically the places where the local people enjoy the most,' said Mr Neal McAliley, an environmental lawyer at Carlton Fields in Miami and a former environmental litigator at the Justice Department. The Trump administration may walk away from Big Cypress and some other national monuments, historical parks, battlefields and protected areas that aren't among the 63 with 'national park' in their name. The White House is proposing to cut about US$1.2 billion (S$1.54 billion) from the NPS's budget, including US$900 million from park operations, mainly by shedding sites that it considers too obscure or too local to merit federal management, transferring these to states and tribal governments. But some states with large numbers of such sites – there are roughly 370 in total – warn that they can't afford to manage and staff them, either, and that some could end up closing. 'It takes about 350 parks to wipe out in order to get US$900 million in budget savings,' said Ms Kristen Brengel, senior vice president of government affairs for the National Parks Conservation Association. 'So it's everything from battlefields to seashores, to recreation areas to monuments.' The stakes are high: Big Cypress as well as Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, protect their regions' drinking water supplies. Park Service staff at Cape Hatteras National Seashore in North Carolina keep the sand on Outer Banks beaches in place and the islands from eroding away. Dozens of NPS locations preserve American history, from the birthplaces of Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln to Gettysburg National Military Park and the Flight 93 National Memorial in Pennsylvania. It's not clear who wants the national park system to be trimmed, other than the White House and some conservative groups who say the plan promotes federalism. But even some Republicans who are eager to see other federal lands developed or taken over aren't necessarily excited about breaking up the national park system. Congress has long responded to members' requests to protect a historic site in their district by putting the NPS in charge of it, which has bloated the national park system, said representative Mike Simpson, an Idaho Republican. But Mr Simpson warned: 'Let's not screw up the national parks because that's something the American people will never forgive us for.' Birthplaces, battlefields scrutinised The White House doesn't yet have a list of places to offload, although a more detailed budget for the Interior Department is expected in coming days. Asked at a Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing on May 21 whether Big Cypress and other large NPS sites could be transferred, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum told Bloomberg Law only that the 63 'crown jewel' national parks will be left alone. Mr Burgum named a few possible transfer candidates: Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace National Historic Site in New York City, Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site in North Dakota and possibly 'a battlefield site someplace'. Only about 25,000 people stopped by Roosevelt's birthplace in Manhattan in 2024. About 10,800 people visited Knife River Indian Villages in 2024, which puts it at number 370 on the NPS' ranking of 398 park units for which visitation statistics are kept. The park service spends less than US$2 million annually to keep each of these sites open. Park advocates bristle at visitation numbers being used as a criterion. 'Regardless whether they're well visited or not, whether people can view it themselves or watch it on TV, they don't want to see them dismantled,' Ms Brengel said. 'These schemes to save a couple of nickels by getting rid of parks – it's unpopular.' Republican Representative Tom Cole of Oklahoma has offered Chickasaw National Recreation Area in Oklahoma as a candidate to be transferred to the Chickasaw Nation, which sold it to the federal government in 1902. Congress turned it into Platt National Park, until it stripped the park of 'crown jewel' status and changed its name in 1976. Today, the park service spends about US$4.5 million to accommodate more than 1.5 million annual visitors at Chickasaw NRA. Mr Cole's office said the Chickasaw Nation hasn't asked for the recreation area to be returned, but the nation's governor, Mr Bill Anoatubby, said in a statement that it's interested. So far, though, there's little other interest in transfers. States wary of taking on more Many states have long been eager for Congress to designate their facilities as National Park System sites because that increases tourist traffic, boosts the economies of nearby communities and spares states the financial burden of managing those sites, said Ms K.K. Duvivier, a natural resources law professor at the University of Denver Sturm College of Law. That's among the top reasons why Maryland, New Mexico, North Carolina and Colorado state governments say they oppose transfers. New Mexico has 18 NPS sites at risk, including Valles Caldera National Preserve, one of the region's newest additions to the national park system. Any national park units transferred to the state would likely end up closing because it already struggles to maintain its parks with limited funding, outdated facilities and high personnel vacancy rates, said Mr Toby Velasquez, state parks director. Maryland, which doesn't have a 'crown jewel' national park but has at least 14 other NPS sites, would step in to save them if necessary, but the federal government should continue to support them because of the tourist draw, said Mr AJ Metcalf, spokesman for the state's Department of Natural Resources. The state's NPS sites supported a total of 2,940 jobs in Maryland and generated US$344 million in economic benefits to the state, he said, citing 2022 NPS data. 'If the federal government does approve these cuts, Maryland will consider all options to obtain and manage these sites to ensure they remain open and accessible to the public,' Mr Metcalf said. Mr Will Yeatman, senior legal fellow at the Pacific Legal Foundation, which has argued for federal land transfers in court, said more than half the Western US is under federal control. It makes sense to return some of that to the states, he said. 'In those states primarily, there is considerable political traction for policies like this,' Mr Yeatman said. 'I know Utah has passed a bill seeking the return of federal lands.' Utah did try in 2024 to force the Interior Department to transfer 18 million acres of other federal land to it, but it hasn't asked for park service properties, said Mr Redge Johnson, executive director of the Utah Governor's Public Lands Policy Coordinating Office. 'Would we step in?' he said. 'Yeah, we'd want to make sure they stay solvent and operational. We're not actively seeking anything there.' New legal questions In some cases, the National Park Service was put in charge of some areas because residents didn't trust the states to manage them. That's what happened at Big Cypress, which became the first national preserve in 1974. Congress agreed with many south Floridians that the Rhode Island-sized wetland needed to be protected from the state's plan to build what would have been the world's largest commercial airport. Floridians 'wanted to protect it and they didn't trust the state,' Mr McAliley said. 'People wanted the Park Service because they trusted them to manage natural qualities.' That's still true today, said Ms Eve Samples, executive director of the Friends of the Everglades. 'Every single year those of us engaged in environmental advocacy in Florida are fighting off bad bills in Tallahassee, and there's not a high degree of trust in the state legislature doing what's right for our public lands,' Ms Samples said. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, a Republican, didn't respond to requests for comment about whether state officials have discussed a possible transfer and if the state could afford it. Big Cypress's fiscal 2024 budget was about US$7.8 million. Congress made Big Cypress a preserve, not a national park, because it wanted to allow hunting, oil and gas drilling, off-highway vehicle and swamp-buggy use, and other activities that aren't usually allowed in national parks. Transferring the preserve to the state would open a host of legal questions, including how the federal government's duty of trust to area tribes would be handled, whether proposed wilderness areas in Big Cypress would be respected, and whether the land would be given or sold to the state, Mr McAliley said. 'If they're just going to be giving it, they'd be giving away a tremendously valuable asset,' he said. 'Then the state has to manage it. If the president is trying to cut the expenses of the park service, doesn't that assume the state is going to have to pay the money?' 'Whoever approved this,'' he said, 'this is like a meat-cleaver approach.' BLOOMBERG Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Yahoo
25-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
DOGE to end lease on Somerset Borough office used during Flight 93 memorial planning
SOMERSET, Pa. (WTAJ) — A small Somerset Borough office used in the early days of the Flight 93 National Memorial project will soon be vacated, as federal officials move to cut costs tied to its lease. According to our media partners at The Tribune-Democrat, the 2,300-square-foot space, leased by the National Park Service and located roughly 16 miles from the memorial site in Shanksville, is being cut by the Department of Government Efficiency. The decision is expected to save the federal government more than $86,700 in the coming years, according to DOGE. The office was originally used during the planning and development of the Flight 93 National Memorial, which opened in 2015. It has since been used occasionally for meetings and off-site educational programming by the Friends of Flight 93, a nonprofit partner of the National Park Service. Although the lease is ending, the nonprofit's efforts to educate the public about the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and the passengers who fought back on United Flight 93 will continue. The group's programming, including its Teach to Remember initiative, will now rely more heavily on the memorial's on-site Learning Center for future meetings and events. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
24-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
DOGE lists Flight 93 Learning Center as a possible cut. What to know
It appears the Department of Government Efficiency, aka DOGE, has recommended the closure of the nearly 10-year-old Flight 93 National Memorial Learning Center as part of the Trump administration's efforts to reduce federal government spending. Among the more than 600 lease terminations listed at the DOGE website is a 2,361-square-foot building in Somerset, Pennsylvania, leased by the National Park Service. According to a lease cancellation post dated March 3, DOGE claims the National Park Service pays $29,693 per year to lease the building, and canceling this lease would save the federal government a total of $86,720. The Flight 93 National Memorial Learning Center opened to the public on Sept. 10, 2015, as "a multi-purpose gathering space for education, programming and special events," according to a National Park Service media announcement at the time the center opened. Share the road: Farm equipment will be on the roads as spring ramps up. How to drive safely near them The Flight 93 National Memorial's Visitor Center also opened on the same day, but to date, it has not been targeted by DOGE for closure. The Daily American emailed the National Park Service for more information, asking for confirmation of the building's location, its annual and total lease cost, and from whom the building is leased. Helping veterans: Somerset Veterans Affairs outreach is one of the state's best. How they do it The National Park Service Office of Public Affairs did not answer those specific questions, but provided this statement: "This location is used for meetings, trainings and by park partners, as well as a Flight 93 National Memorial learning studio. We are actively working with GSA (the General Services Administration) to ensure that every facility and asset is utilized effectively, and where necessary, identifying alternative solutions that strengthen our mission. These efforts reflect our broader commitment to streamlining government operations while ensuring that conservation efforts remain strong, effective and impactful. "This process is ongoing, and we will provide updates as more information becomes available." This article originally appeared on The Daily American: Flight 93 Learning Center among DOGE lease cut targets
Yahoo
04-04-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Pitt-Johnstown students showcase research during annual SPACE event
JOHNSTOWN, Pa. – University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown students from a variety of disciplines came together Wednesday to share senior projects, creative works, independent study findings and more as part of the annual Symposium for the Promotion of Academic and Creative Enquiry. 'It's like the Super Bowl of research for UPJ,' undergraduate research coordinator Matthew Tracey said. The chemistry professor organizes the annual SPACE event that this year had 80 presentations with between one and five students at each display. The works ranged from food waste solutions and an auto cable wrapper to ways to increase polio vaccinations, a tick repellent, the boundaries of free speech, Pitt-Johnstown's watershed and more. 'This is the culmination of a year of research for some of these students,' Tracey said. That included juniors Sara Bowers and Natalie Lippincott, who presented on their tick repellent BITE (binding to increase tick evasion.) The pair of biology majors, who minor in chemistry, worked with several others to develop and study the concept, including Tracey and associate professor of biology Jill Henning. BITE uses a novel approach to repelling blacklegged ticks – known as deer ticks – by covering the carbon dioxide a person expels through their skin with a hemoglobin agent, Lippincott said. In their tests, the ticks were significantly dispelled using the product, which utilizes aloe vera as a vehicle. 'It's wonderful,' professor Massasati Ahmad Saleh said after talking to the undergraduates. He noted that UPJ has a sizeable amount of wild acreage on campus and students are often not advised to wander in due to tick bite concern. This project could alleviate those worries, he said. Bowers said she's glad to be part of a project that could have an important impact on the local area. Pryce Donovan and his teammates – Ethan Koontz, Spencer Pfarr, Alexzander Toto and Kyle Weiser – were also interested in improving the region with their designs for expanding the Flight 93 National Memorial near Shanksville, Somerset County. The group of senior civil engineers proposed adding a theater, museum, overlook tower and infinity pool to the Sept. 11, 2001, crash site of United Flight 93. 'It kind of just snowballed after a visit,' Donovan said. The engineering students have worked with the National Park Service to develop their ideas and noted their appreciation for the collaboration on the project. Donovan said the work was well-received at SPACE. Tracey said the symposium isn't solely for students to show off their hard work. It's also a fantastic opportunity to introduce other undergraduates to the program and possibly inspire them to get involved, he said. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the annual gathering was a sizeable event and is growing again. Tracey said the 80 presentations were nearly too many to fit in Heritage Hall in the Living and Learning Center on campus. His goal for next year is to have 100 displays and move to a larger venue.
Yahoo
29-03-2025
- General
- Yahoo
New trees for Flight 93
Decision-makers at Flight 93 National Memorial must not repeat the mistakes that have reportedly led to some trees' failure to thrive at key parts of the Shanksville-area memorial. James Mealey, a landscape architect with the Olmsted Center for Landscape Preservation, gave an unflattering assessment of the roots of the problem, as our Dave Sutor reported last week. Mealey said during an online presentation: 'One of the things we found in our research and study of the initial development of the memorial is that one of the things that went wrong is that it was rushed – that there was this desire to get things built, get things in the ground to meet different sorts of deadlines, and to sort of just get the project done.' Approximately 2,000 native deciduous trees were planted from 2012 to 2016 at the memorial's 40 Memorial Groves and its Allee walkway – a 30-acre landscape feature that defines the field where United Airlines Flight 93 crashed on Sept. 11, 2001, planted to honor the flight's 40 passengers and crew. But as of 2020, about a quarter of those trees were in poor condition, dead or missing. And about 700 dead or declining trees were removed last year, Sutor reported. Mealey listed some factors contributing to the problems – poor soil quality and the selection of tree species that struggled with the 'harsh conditions' at the former strip mine; a lack of irrigation; improper planting practices; and the memorial's constrained maintenance capacity. The Olmsted center, the National Park Service and Penn State University are among the organizations now involved in the memorial's 'Resiliency Project' with the goals of understanding what went wrong and creating Memorial Groves and an Allee with healthy trees. As Sutor reported, Mealey said project leaders are not going to repeat the mistake of rushing the revitalization. He laid out a 40-year timeline to establish a healthy and mature landscape. • Steps already taken or underway include soil testing and the addition of new topsoil in some locations. A test grove has been planted to see which species do well, with swamp white oak and Kentucky coffeetree showing 'strong' performances. • Project partners hope to finalize cultural landscape treatment and tree operations plans this year. Other goals are to enhance staff capacity, design and install irrigation systems, and continue soil improvements. • The first phase of tree-replanting could begin by next spring. Mealey said the replanting process 'would take place over the next decade, maybe even into two decades.' Flight 93 National Memorial's natural beauty is one of its most outstanding characteristics. Thanks in part to the reforestation effort at the former strip mine and acid mine drainage treatment that even predates Sept. 11, 2001, the tract has been transformed into an important habitat for wildlife and a destination for hundreds of thousands of visitors each year. A couple years ago, Stephen Clark, superintendent of western Pennsylvania's NPS sites, said: 'So much of this memorial was not just bricks and mortar, but it was also to manage the landscape. … To transform this once-scarred landscape of a strip mine over generations to be a place of reflection and a natural space where people will visit – and will for many generations to come – it's extraordinary.' That's one reason why the Resiliency Project is important. But the other, of course, is centered on the memorial's mission – to honor Flight 93's passengers and crew and to preserve the story for future generations. Kristina Melgar, acting deputy superintendent for western Pennsylvania's national parks, put it this way: 'We are not going to give up on (the groves). … The groves are there, and what they're meant to do is represent on a large scale the sacrifice that these 40 heroes made that day, on 11 September 2001, which was the ultimate sacrifice.'
