July 2013 - Parks & Recreation - 22
ADVOCACY
ing lot, restrooms, docks and boat
launches. Past WRDAs have been
important to urban waterfronts, and
the current WRDA bill under consideration is similarly important. Urban
waterfront projects range from navigation and shipping improvements
to economic development projects to
ecosystem restoration projects.
Previous WRDA bills have authorized funding for numerous parks to
conduct environmental restoration
and stream revitalization projects
and studies, and those types of projects are very likely to be eligible in
WRDA 2013 as well. One of the
ways WRDA can provide for parks is
through an " environmental review. "
Established under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), an
environmental review ensures that all
projects receiving federal funding are
completed in a way that is suitable
for wildlife, ecosystems and public
health. S.B. 601 would streamline the
environmental review process by requiring all governmental agencies to
coordinate the environmental review
process or face monetary penalties.
Additionally, the Corps would be
required to resolve any delays in the
environmental review process. If it is
unable to do so, the matter would be
referred to the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) and, ultimately, the president.
In order to preserve the environment for future generations, the
2007 WRDA authorized a large environmental restoration project in
New Jersey's Liberty State Park. The
restoration of 234 acres provides
substantial benefits by linking previously developed and restored, but
isolated, components of the park into
one cohesive whole. The restoration
project includes the creation of approximately 46 acres of salt marsh,
20
Parks & Recreation
the enhancement of approximately
26 acres of freshwater wetlands, the
creation of approximately 50 acres
of warm-weather grasslands and the
enhancement of approximately 100
acres of northern hardwoods and
maritime shrub assemblages.
Past WRDAs have been
important to urban
waterfronts, and the
current WRDA bill
under consideration is
similarly important.
Parks can also utilize WRDA
through streambank stabilization, a
vegetative or mechanical method of
preventing erosion or deterioration of
the banks of waterways. Streams and
rivers often need protection from pesticides and nutrients that can pollute
habitats if they enter the waterway.
Previous WRDAs have provided for
vegetated streambank stabilization,
which not only acts as a barrier to
pollutants but often provides the added benefit of preserving and cooling
the water during the summer via
shade created by native plants. In a
healthy water system, banks are relatively stable because they are held
together by vegetation growing very
close to or even in the water itself.
Another tool that can be used by
parks is wetlands mitigation. Mitigation lessens the adverse environmental impacts of development projects
by avoiding the impact altogether,
minimizing the impacts or by compensating for the impact by replacing or providing substitute resources
or environments. The 1986 WRDA
contains a number of provisions that
| J U LY 2 0 1 3 | W W W. N R PA . O R G
specifically address wetland protection, the most significant of which
are its mitigation requirements, and
the 1990 WRDA established wetland protection goals for the Corps.
Prior to passage of the 1986 WRDA,
mitigation policy for wetlands losses
resulting specifically from water projects had not been well articulated by
Congress, and mitigation occurred
irregularly. After Hurricanes Katrina
and Rita, the 2007 WRDA saw an
uptick in wetland mitigation and restoration proposals. See " Take It to
the Bank " on page 36 for more.
EPW's markup of WRDA 2013
couldn't come at a better time. The
American Society of Civil Engineers
(ASCE) recently issued its " 2013 Report Card for America's Infrastructure, " which rated Public Parks and
Recreation as a C-. The report went
on to say, " The popularity of parks
and outdoor recreation areas in the
United States continues to grow, with
over 140 million Americans making
use of these facilities a part of their
daily lives. These activities contribute
$646 billion to the nation's economy,
supporting 6.1 million jobs. Yet states
and localities struggle to provide these
benefits for parks amid flat and declining budgets, reporting an estimated
$18.5 billion in unmet needs in 2011.
The federal government is also facing
a serious challenge as well since the
National Park Service estimates its
maintenance backlog at approximately $11 billion. " Whether Congress can
find the votes to pass a new WRDA
remains to be seen; however, it's certain that America needs this legislation sooner rather than later.
Blake Houston is a research associate with
The Ferguson Group, a Washington, D.C.,
lobbying firm that represents NRPA on
Capitol Hill (bhouston@tfgnet.com).
Stephanie Missert contributed to this article.
July 2013 - Parks & Recreation
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July 2013 - Parks & Recreation - 1
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