Morris tourism director lobbies Washington for National Park maintenance

Courtenay Mercer of Preservation NJ, Leslie Bensley of the Morris Tourism Bureau, and Dan Saunders, formerly of the NJ Historic Preservation Office, in Washington to lobby for National Parks funding, April 2018. Photo courtesy of the Morris Tourism Bureau.
Courtenay Mercer of Preservation NJ, Leslie Bensley of the Morris Tourism Bureau, and Dan Saunders, formerly of the NJ Historic Preservation Office, in Washington to lobby for National Parks funding, April 2018. Photo courtesy of the Morris Tourism Bureau.
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Our national parks are getting a little rough around the edges.

That was the message Morris County’s tourism director, Leslie Bensley, brought to Washington this month.

“They’re starting to deteriorate, the same way a plaster roof deteriorates when there’s a leak in the roof,” said Bensley, who lobbied New Jersey’s congressional delegation to support the National Park Service Legacy Act.

The bipartisan bill would provide money for maintenance that has been underfunded for decades. The National Park Service has an infrastructure repair backlog of $12 billion, according to the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

“Some of the National Park Service’s most significant historic sites are at risk of falling into disrepair,” Pam Bowman of the National Trust told Congress last year.

Examples include Ellis Island, which needs $160 million of upkeep; Gettysburg National Military Park, which is $55.5 million behind; and Saratoga National Historical Park, which needs $16.2 million of work, according to a coalition of historical societies led by the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the Civil War Trust.

MORRISTOWN’S PARK ‘DEFINES WHO WE ARE’

National Parks in New Jersey have been forced to defer some $213 million in maintenance projects since the 1970s, Bensley said.

That includes about $9.5 million at the Morristown National Historical Park, for overdue fixes to roofs, gutters, heating and air conditioning systems, and accessibility improvements, trail erosion control, and upgrades to signage and exhibits, she said.

“America’s park system is one of America’s best ideas,” said Bensley, executive director of tourism in Morris County for 20 years. “The thorny problem is, we have a lot of National Parks–but we haven’t had the money when we needed it to keep them in tip-top shape.”

Bensley visited the nation’s capital for two days, with Courtenay Mercer of Preservation New Jersey and Dan Saunders, former administrator of the New Jersey Historic Preservation Office.

The visit was coordinated by the National Trust, the Pew Charitable Trust and the National Parks Conservation Association.

Leslie Bensley, executive director of the Morris Tourism Bureau, reviews National Parks funding stats. Photo by Kevin Coughlin
Leslie Bensley, executive director of the Morris Tourism Bureau, reviews National Parks funding stats. Photo by Kevin Coughlin

They met with staffers for Senators Robert Menendez and Cory Booker (both D-NJ), and for Representatives Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-11th Dist.), Donald Payne (D-10th Dist.), Albio Sires (D-8th Dist.) and William Pascrell (D-9th Dist.).

Frelinghuysen, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, is keenly aware of the maintenance backlog, said spokesman Steve Wilson.

“On his direction, the recently-enacted Consolidated Appropriations Act includes additional funding to support the National Park Service’s efforts to begin to catch-up on overdue maintenance,” Wilson said. 

“Specifically, the bill includes a $185 million increase above fiscal year 2017 levels to address longstanding deferred maintenance needs, including a $25 million increase for maintenance, repair, and rehabilitation projects, and a $150 million increase for deferred maintenance of park service facilities.”

Co-sponsored by Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) and Sen. Rob Portman (R-Oh.), the National Park Service Legacy Act seeks to allocate $500 million annually through 2047, from revenues the government receives for oil and natural gas royalties.

Morristown’s national historical park–the nation’s first–commemorates two winters spent here by Gen. George Washington and the Continental Army during the Revolution.

The park generates nearly $21 million in visitor spending and related jobs for the region, the National Park Service estimates. Even more important, Bensley said, is the park’s history–of an army’s survival during a brutal winter in a struggle for Independence.

“We must be powerful advocates for what made America, and protect those powerful stories that define who we are as Americans,” she said.

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