The House Natural Resources Committee held a hearing Sept. 17 in Hot Springs, Arkansas, on the National Park Service’s practice of leasing historic properties to private entities and how to better leverage those arrangements to help address the agency’s estimated $11.6 billion maintenance backlog. Under historic leasing, the private organization typically agrees to fund some or all of the needed repairs on a property. The Pew Charitable Trusts’ campaign to restore America’s parks submitted this written testimony to committee members.