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Protect Our Parks: Cosponsor the National Park Centennial Act

Target: U.S. Representatives
Sponsored by: National Parks Conservation Association

National parks around the country are struggling to protect the historic, cultural, and natural resources in their care. Deteriorating buildings, eroding archaeological sites, and increasing environmental degradation are all too common. The Park Service needs more funding to preserve our country's rich natural heritage. In addition, park staff struggle to fulfill the interpretive, educational, and safety needs of park visitors.

Fortunately, a bipartisan group of representatives led by Mark Souder (R-IN) and Brian Baird (D-WA) have just introduced the National Park Centennial Act. This bill, looking towards the 100th anniversary of the National Park System in 2016, would create the National Park Centennial Fund, a dedicated funding source that would help get national parks the funds they need to eliminate the maintenance backlog and support critical natural and cultural resource protection needs. The bill will better enable the National Park Service to protect the natural and cultural resources the parks were created to preserve.

Take action today! Sign this petition to send a letter to your representative and urge him or her to cosponsor the National Park Centennial Act. Urge your representative to call Reps. Mark Souder (R-IN) or Brian Baird (D-WA) and sign on as a cosponsor of the Centennial Act and to recruit their colleagues to do the same.

Please check to see if your representative is already a cosponsor, and if they are, you can thank them for their work to protect the parks in your personal comments.

deadline: 3-2-2006
goal: 8,000

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Dear Representative,

As you know, our national parks desperately need the added protection that would come with sufficient funding. From historic buildings, including one of the nation's last 19th-century hospitals on Ellis Island, to ancient artifacts and fossils in Petrified Forest National Park, to the rare wildlife and plants found throughout the system, our national parks are in need of help. I have just learned about legislation that would provide that help, and I urge you to become a cosponsor of this important bill.

National Parks need our help: [Your personal comments]

The National Park Centennial Act, recently introduced by a bipartisan group of representatives, led by Mark Souder (R-IN) and Brian Baird (D-WA), would provide essential resources to the Park Service that would enable it to fulfill its mission to protect our nation's natural and cultural resources. The bill, looking to the 100th anniversary of the National Park System in 2016, would create the National Park Centennial Fund, a dedicated funding source that would help get national parks the funds they need to eliminate the maintenance backlog and support critical natural and cultural resource protection needs. Most important, it would return the luster to our national parks by the centennial of the National Park System in 2016.

I urge you to tell Representatives Souder and Baird that you want to help them pass this legislation to protect our nations natural heritage and cultural legacy. Please cosponsor this bill and encourage your colleagues to do the same in order to protect our country's most cherished places.

Sincerely,

[Your name]

We signed the “Protect Our Parks: Cosponsor the National Park Centennial Act” petition!

# 50:

5:05 pm PST, Mar 3, Cindy Minde, Arizona

# 49:

5:05 pm PST, Mar 3, Kimberly Hurley-shoaf, North Carolina

# 48:

5:04 pm PST, Mar 3, Rebecca Puckett, Texas
It was the people in Washington years ago that had the insight to create National Parks to protect parts of this country from destruction. We need all the funding we can get to keep these area the way that nature intended.

# 47:

5:04 pm PST, Mar 3, Debra Wegner, Wisconsin

# 46:

5:04 pm PST, Mar 3, William Magee, Pennsylvania
What better way to spend funding than preserving our National Parks as our legacy for the nation's futire generations.

National Parks are proof that we are only visitors on this Earth who make temporary bivouacs. National Parks need preservation as our legacy to future generations.

# 45:

5:04 pm PST, Mar 3, Janeyvette Boudreaux, California
we need to continue to learn from nature, and the past, thus we must prioritize caring for these beings as well as the nature and historical artifacts they live in and around...

the parks are the balance god has given this earth, and our connection to them is imparitive it's directly connected to our sanity, balance and well being.we must value the innocent things of this planet, and preserve, and protect them, this is our stewardship let's make ourselves proud as a human race,and country set an example to the world.

# 44:

5:04 pm PST, Mar 3, Neva Redding, Washington
people and animals NEED space

parks give us a touch of reality and sanctity...we NEED 'em

# 43:

5:04 pm PST, Mar 3, Steven Handwerker, Florida

# 42:

5:03 pm PST, Mar 3, M Busch, New Jersey

# 41:

5:03 pm PST, Mar 3, M.L. Chaplin, New York

# 40:

5:03 pm PST, Mar 3, Martin Baskin, Virginia

# 39:

5:02 pm PST, Mar 3, Marnie E. Nilsen, Massachusetts

# 38:

5:02 pm PST, Mar 3, Lorena Steidl, Florida

# 37:

5:02 pm PST, Mar 3, Margaret Rembold, New Jersey

# 36:

5:02 pm PST, Mar 3, Mollie F Mathes, California

# 35:

5:01 pm PST, Mar 3, Alicia Graef, Vermont

# 34:

5:01 pm PST, Mar 3, Lynda Eckard, Maryland
The citizens of the US have been robbed of our national parks. It is long past time to reverse this trend. Proserve the parks for the citizens.

Our national parks are the only link to our great wilderness. They should be there to preserve wildlife and nature.

# 33:

5:00 pm PST, Mar 3, Lorraine Thompson, New York

# 32:

5:00 pm PST, Mar 3, Charlotte Adams, Texas

# 31:

4:59 pm PST, Mar 3, Debbie Hassinger, Wisconsin

# 30:

4:59 pm PST, Mar 3, Mary Southworth, Massachusetts

# 29:

4:59 pm PST, Mar 3, Keith Kreger, Oregon

# 28:

4:59 pm PST, Mar 3, Gene Peters, Texas

# 27:

4:58 pm PST, Mar 3, Sue Martin, California

# 26:

4:58 pm PST, Mar 3, Becky Muncy, Virginia

# 25:

4:58 pm PST, Mar 3, Name not displayed, North Carolina

# 24:

4:40 pm PST, Mar 3, Name not displayed, North Dakota

# 23:

4:30 pm PST, Mar 3, Pamela Mcclure, Indiana

# 22:

4:25 pm PST, Mar 3, Charles Mcclure, Indiana

# 21:

4:23 pm PST, Mar 3, Madeleine Flandreau, California

# 20:

4:08 pm PST, Mar 3, Clay Caldwell, California

# 19:

4:08 pm PST, Mar 3, Name not displayed, Tennessee

# 18:

3:55 pm PST, Mar 3, Barbara Tomlinson, Washington
I would hate for historic and archeological sites to crumble away and not be preserved for future generations. I would hate for sites of natural wonder to be closed or inaccessible because of deteriorating infrastructure, or because there was no longer any protection for them in place.

Some of the best days of my childhood were spent at Mt. Rainier National Park. I do not want to see private concessions taking over at the parks -- that is not the answer to keeping them in their pristine state.

# 17:

3:37 pm PST, Mar 3, Tina Kiel, New York

# 16:

3:18 pm PST, Mar 3, Amanda Bielskas, New York

# 15:

3:13 pm PST, Mar 3, Joshua Archer, Indiana

# 14:

2:53 pm PST, Mar 3, Danae Peckler, Kentucky

# 13:

2:51 pm PST, Mar 3, Douglass Gaking, Ohio

# 12:

2:50 pm PST, Mar 3, Scott Brownell, Florida

# 11:

2:32 pm PST, Mar 3, Stacey Hierspiel, Pennsylvania

# 10:

2:27 pm PST, Mar 3, Elizabeth Harshaw, California

# 9:

1:30 pm PST, Mar 3, Jenny Miller, California

# 8:

1:17 pm PST, Mar 3, Name not displayed, Illinois

# 7:

1:11 pm PST, Mar 3, Kim Bainbridge, United Kingdom
Because national parks need ot be preserved, we keep cutting down trees and digging up the groud we should preserve at least a little of whats left.

To me national parks are the only thing we arent yet destroying, with the exception of quarrying >:(

# 6:

12:49 pm PST, Mar 3, Crystal Jack, Florida
We need to preserve and maintain our national treasures.

National Parks are supposed to be a sanctuary where wildlife can live as they were intended to without excessive interference from people.

# 5:

12:38 pm PST, Mar 3, Ivy Syiem, India
Kindly increase the funding of National Parks. You need them to preserve nature and its bounties.

# 4:

12:15 pm PST, Mar 3, Joye Le Beau, Washington

# 3:

12:05 pm PST, Mar 3, Lauri Peacock, New Mexico

# 2:

12:00 pm PST, Mar 3, Jenny Massey, Georgia

# 1:

11:56 am PST, Mar 3, Rebecca Young, California
Our National Parks need to be preserved for future generations, and right now many parks are in serious need of maintenance work and protection.

Point Reyes National Seashore is one of my favorite places in this country. I go there to reconnect with nature, to see spectacular wildlife - tule elk, whales, peregrine falcons - and to enjoy the majestic California coast.

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Protect Our Parks: Cosponsor the National Park Centennial Act

This petition has been closed.