Amata Highlights National Park Week
Washington, D.C. – Congresswoman Uifa’atali Amata is highlighting National Park Week, which is an initiative of the National Park Service (NPS) and the National Park Foundation.
The NPS is part of the Department of the Interior, and under the jurisdiction of the Natural Resources Committee in Congress for oversight and funding. The United States is home to 63 National Parks and 424 sites in the National Park system, including monuments, memorials, battlefields, historic sites, and scenic trails.
Rep Amata with NPS crew, during the Feb 2020 visit of US Mint Director David Ryder and then NPS Regional Director Stanley Austin
The National Park of American Samoa is a unique destination, as the only one south of the Equator, a multi-site Park on several islands, home to plants and wildlife species not found elsewhere in the U.S., and the rare inclusion of coastal waters to offshore preserved coral reefs.
“Our beautiful National Park of American Samoa is often the last one reached by tourists on a quest to visit all 63 National Parks,” said Congresswoman Amata. “All throughout American Samoa, there is natural beauty everywhere we look, and our National Park preserves and manages some of our special mountainside, coastal and bay areas. It is especially fitting that National Park Week begins with Earth Day and includes Arbor Day. Thank you most of all to our local National Park employees and volunteers!”
The bipartisan Great American Outdoors Act, passed in 2020, boosted support for National Parks and guarantees funds in the important Land Water Conservation Fund (LWCF). As the most substantial conservation legislation in a generation, the law was described as “a conservationist’s dream” by the National Parks Conservation Association. Current legislative efforts continue to build on that structure and funding increase.
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