Pew Testimony to House: Historic Leasing Can Help Fix National Parks

For centuries, American Indian tribes recognized the healing powers of hot springs that flowed from the western slope of a mountain in Arkansas' Ouachita range. By 1832, when President Andrew Jackson designated Hot Springs Reservation as the nation's first federally protected recreation area, a town had sprung up around the springs. Samuel W. Fordyce, a business and railroad magnate, moved to "the American spa," as the town became known, in 1876 after experiencing the thermal waters, said to treat rheumatism and other ailments. He and others constructed large hotels, utility systems, street railway systems, and grand bathhouses, most of which are still open to the public.

Members of a congressional committee plan to travel to Hot Springs National Park in Arkansas on Sept. 17 to examine firsthand how the practice of historic leasing can improve the visitor experience at national parks and address deferred maintenance.

When smart, dedicated people from different organizational cultures come together to pursue a goal, good things can happen. Leaders at the National Park Service (NPS) know this and have entered into partnerships to address deferred maintenance projects at several NPS sites across the county.  The work ranges from fixing crumbling concrete and preserving archeological sites to restoring historic buildings and updating failing electrical systems—all part of an $11.3 billion maintenance backlog across the NPS’ more than 400 sites. The issues can affect access and safety, and even threaten the very items and sites the NPS was created to protect.