hello Daily Kos This will be the beginning of a series on expanding our national park system, by adding more national monuments into the system. Currently there are 108, but I believe there are literally hundreds more areas deserving of National Monument status. Over the course of this series I will examine each state, and will assign them a number of monuments to add based on a formula I've devised.
hello Daily Kos This will be the beginning of a series on expanding our national park system, by adding more national monuments into the system. Currently there are 108, but I believe there are literally hundreds more areas deserving of National Monument status. Over the course of this series I will examine each state, and will assign them a number of monuments to add based on a formula I've devised. basically the formula is as follows
Every state that has 10000 sq miles of area or less, they have to set aside 2 areas.
Every state that has between 10000 and 50000, has to set aside 3.
Every state that has between 50000 and 100000, has to set aside 4
every state that has between 100000 and 150000 has to set aside 5.
states above 150000 miles in area have to set aside more than 5 areas, depending on their size. So, California will have to set aside 6, Texas 8 and Alaska has to set aside 20.
Areas that are eligible for monument status
The coastline of each state(where applicable). the monument will extend ten miles inland, and go 20 miles offshore, into the US'' exclusive economic" Zone, which at its furthest extent is 200 miles. the monument will run the length of the shoreline, which in some cases is hundreds or even thousands of miles.
The Great Lakes
Chesapeake Bay
Bristol Bay
The Arctic
existing recreation areas or wildlife refuges
Funding
Each state shall receive 50 billion for conservation purposes, over 10 years. While 50 billion may not go as far in California or Florida as it would in North Dakota, having each state receive the same amount eliminates the complaining about why State X got more than State Y.
Expansion will come in the last step of the process, after existing backlogs for the current parks, monuments and other units are eliminated. currently the backlog in the Park Service is I believe 8 billion, with an annual shortfall of 500 million. compared against the total amount of 2.5 trillion, that's a drop in the bucket. Not only will this funding help preserve, protect and expand the park service, it will boost the economic impact the system has in the country. Currently the park system provides over 30 billion in economic benefits every year. My expansion could more than double that number when all the new sites are incorporated and properly funded.
I will also address how much making all those monuments a reality would cost, and whether a new department would be needed to manage the greatly expanded parks system. Comments and suggestions are welcome as well as help with maps and links. i will start the series next week with Alabama.