STATEMENT: Federal Investments Today in National Mall Catalyze Private Sector Support for the Future
STATEMENT: Federal Investments Today in National Mall Catalyze Private Sector Support for the Future
Catherine Townsend
August 29, 2023
The Great American Outdoors Act is the single largest targeted investment ever in America's national parks. The bipartisan legislation, enacted in 2020, is providing the National Park Service with up to $1.3 billion per year through 2025 to address extensive maintenance and repair needs in national parks nationwide and to improve visitor opportunities for recreation, relaxation, education, and enjoyment. The investment supports improvements in America’s 425 national parks, upgrading aging systems that exceed the capacity they were designed to support and funds large-scale infrastructure projects that could not realistically be accomplished through normal means.
The National Park Service announced today that the Great American Outdoors Act is providing $112 million to repair and restore the failing seawalls around the Tidal Basin and along the Potomac River at West Potomac Park. This is a critical investment in the National Mall and one that would not have happened without this bipartisan legislation. It will safeguard the infrastructure supporting the Tidal Basin, its treasured memorials and the iconic cherry trees, and will ensure this revered place is preserved and protected for the next generation.
The National Mall is the most visited of our national parks. Each year, there are over 36 million visits to America’s front yard and civic stage. Visitors come from across the country and around the world to engage with our history, honor heroes, celebrate the annual fireworks, share stories, and join with others to shape our future. Because of the Great American Outdoors Act, visitors are benefiting from this landmark legislation and it’s inspiring others to get involved as well.
As the proud nonprofit, nonpartisan partner of the National Park Service taking care of the National Mall since 2008, the Trust for the National Mall championed and celebrated the passage of the Great American Outdoors Act, both for the funding it brought as well as for what it did to inspire others to get involved to preserve the Mall. The Great American Outdoors Act is a catalyst for major National Park Service improvements, but federal funding alone is not enough. Indeed, the funding needed to care for nearly 700 acres of sweeping open spaces, treasured memorials, and the Tidal Basin far exceeds the funding that the federal government can provide. That is why it is equally valuable and notable that the federal investment is energizing and incentivizing private sector investment, which is critical to preserving the National Mall and ensuring it is here for future generations to enjoy.
At the Trust for the National Mall, we are using this federal funding to help leverage and inspire the generosity of private citizens, corporate partners and philanthropists to support our work to restore, preserve and enrich the National Mall. Private support to the Trust for the National Mall has helped us restore and reinvigorate the historic Lockkeeper’s House as the new gateway attraction on the National Mall, has rebuilt the U.S. Park Police Horse Stables and created a brand new Education Center at the horse stables that has already welcomed more than 20,000 visitors this summer, and has helped build a new corps of 200 volunteers educating and welcoming visitors across America’s Front Yard. Our goal is to provide the federal government with a true return on its investment and to maximize the impact of federal funding.
Nearly every monument and memorial on the National Mall was built in part by private philanthropy. With the federal government making the historic investment in our national parks through the Great American Outdoors Act, the private sector must also honor its responsibility to preserve and upgrade our national treasures, where our history is remembered, celebrated and honored and where the future is shaped.
The Semiquincentennial – America's 250th anniversary coming in 2026–brings new and pressing meaning to our work on the National Mall. It is a reminder of the importance of the National Mall’s purpose as a symbol and beacon of American democracy, independence, and unity, and of why we must all do our part to prepare the National Mall to play center stage for this grand American celebration.
Thank you to the U.S. Congress and the federal government for doing your part, helping us elevate and guarantee the purpose and future of the National Mall.
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Catherine Townsend is President and CEO of the Trust for the National Mall, the nonprofit philanthropic partner of the National Park Service dedicated to preserving, restoring and enriching the National Mall.