Sens. Max Baucus and Jon Tester announced Wednesday that Montana’s national parks will receive $33.2 from the federal stimulus, more than half of which will sent to Glacier National Park. The Democratic senators sent out the following e-mail:
Montana’s senators Max Baucus and Jon Tester today announced more than $33,200,000 from the federal stimulus bill is headed to Montana to improve access and services and create good paying jobs in national parks, historic sites and recreation areas in the state.
Baucus and Tester helped write and voted for the stimulus plan- which they call the Jobs Bill-earlier this year. Projects will receive the funding through the U.S. Department of the Interior.
In Montana, the funding will be used to update aging facilities, improve energy efficiency, repair trails and preserve historic structures in five National Park Service sites across the state.
“In Montana, we are an outdoors people, we hunt, fish, we go hiking, and we have some of the most beautiful land in the world- right in our backyards” Baucus said. “This will help keep our world class parks in tip top shape, creating jobs, bringing in tourists and keeping Montana the Last Best Place.”
“This funding is a sound investment in Montana that will help rebuild our economy by creating jobs and investing in our parks, historic sites and recreation areas,” said Tester, a member of the influential Senate Interior Appropriations Subcommittee. “These dollars will put folks back to work, which is exactly why I voted for the Jobs Bill.”
The NPS sites in Montana that will receive funding are:
Big Hole National Battlefield $620,000
Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area $217,000
Glacier National Park $17,567,000
Grant-Kohrs Ranch National Historic Site $126,000
Yellowstone National Park (Montana and Wyoming) $14,735,000