Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2017

Floor Speech

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Mr. HIMES. Mr. Chairman, as the designee of the gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Courtney), I offer amendment No. 3.

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Mr. HIMES. Mr. Chairman, I am delighted to offer an amendment that was authored by my good friend and colleague, Joe Courtney of Connecticut.

This is an amendment that would provide, on a budget-neutral basis, $300,000 to the national park system for the New England National Scenic Trail.

This is something that is very important to us in the region of New England. It is an environmental treasure that is located in the backyards of millions of Connecticut and Massachusetts residents. The trail was officially designated as a National Scenic Trail in 2009, but has long been enjoyed by all southern New Englanders.

The New England National Scenic Trail winds through 40 communities, and nearly 2 million people live within 10 miles of it. Starting in Guilford, Connecticut, just outside my district, on the shores of the Long Island Sound, the trail winds northward on a ridgeline tracing the Connecticut River, across the Pioneer Valley highlands in Massachusetts, and ends at Royalston Falls on the Massachusetts-New Hampshire border.

This budget-neutral amendment simply ensures that $300,000 within the operation of the National Park System account will be set aside to fund the New England National Scenic Trail.

Over a decade ago, the National Park Trail feasibility study recommended that the New England Trail would need an annual operating budget of $271,000 in Federal funding; but the trail has, unfortunately, received an average of less than half that--$127,000 annually, in the NPS operations funding. Of this funding, the National Park Service takes one-third, leaving only about $43,000 for each State to manage this 223-mile-long trail, a trail that winds through some of the most scenic areas of New England and some of the most historic parts of our country with respect to the Revolutionary War.

The Massachusetts-based Appalachian Mountain Club and the Connecticut Forest and Park Association have done an outstanding job leveraging the minimal $127,000 in funding, raising $1.5 million in non-Federal dollars in 2015 alone.

Mr. Chair, this amendment will ensure stable funding for the New England Trail and safeguard a high-quality recreational and wilderness experience for the many thousands of trail users in our small, densely populated region of the country. I respectfully urge my colleagues to support this budget-neutral amendment.

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Mr. HIMES. Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.

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Mr. HIMES. Mr. Chair, I demand a recorded vote.

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