Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore has officially become the 61st (or 62nd, depending on how you count) unit of the National Park System with a “national park” designation. Photo Credit: Flickr user: Paul J Everett in 2008 CC BY-SA 2.0 (year 2018 ended on a low note for the National Park System in the midst of a partial Federal government shutdown. With the budget negotiations to keep the Federal government open consuming almost all of Congress’ attention in November, December, and January, that left a lot of unfinished business that Congress was unable to get to before their 115th Session ended in early January. Fortunately, the newly elected Congress began the 116th Session by immediately taking up many of the pending public lands provisions that had received Committee hearings and debates over the previous two years in the 115th Session and sent many of them to the President’s desk for signature. Here’s a recap of what you need to know:I’ll begin with the news that Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore is now.

Parkasaurus challenges the player to plan, design and construct fabulous exhibits that maximize both the happiness of their Dinos, and the park guests’ satisfaction and willingness to spend money! Starting with only a dream and an abandoned park the. On Friday February 15, the President signed into law the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2019. This is the law the prevented another government shutdown from beginning on February 16 by providing budget authority to the National Park Service (and all other Federal agencies that weren’t previously funded) through September 30, 2019.

On Friday February 15, the President signed into law the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2019. This is the law the prevented another government shutdown from beginning on February 16 by providing budget authority to the National Park Service (and all other Federal agencies that weren’t previously funded) through September 30, 2019. Normally, any law with the words “Appropriations Act” in the title is supposed to be limited to just providing funding – and is not supposed to be making other changes to permanent law. However, advocates for redesignating Indiana Dunes were so persistent that they managed to get their provision tucked into this must-pass legislation keeping the government open so as to ensure that it was enacted into law. Thus, congratulations to Indiana Dunes on being redesignated as the 61st “national park” of the United States (or alternatively, the 62nd depending if you count “” as a “national park.”)The USS Arizona Memorial and the other Pearl Harbor Sites in World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument are being redesignated as the Pearl Harbor National Memorial. Photo Credit: Stan Shebs in 2002 CC BY-SA 3.0 (other proposed bills relating to the National Park System aren’t so lucky to be tucked into must-pass legislation. Instead, it has now become common practice that whenever a two-year session of Congress begins wrapping up, a giant “omnibus” piece of legislation is crafted to bring together a large number of public lands provisions that had been debated in Committee over the previous two years.

The idea behind the “omnibus” is to include something for almost everyone in Congress, and thus ensure its passage. So it was little surprise when the “omnibus” public lands bill for the 115th Congress (2017-2018), the Natural Resources Management Act, passed the Senate earlier this week by a vote of 92-8. The House of Representatives is almost certain to pass this legislation sometime next week. Its possible that they may even pass it without amendment, which would send the legislation directly to President Trump for his signature to be enacted into law.Presuming that happens, here is what you need to know about how the Natural Resources Management Act will impact the National Park System.First up, the existing is being broken up, creating a new addition to the National Park System. The “Valor” National Monument was always an odd creation from the moment that President George W. Bush created it in 2008 by combining the existing then-designated USS Arizona National Memorial with several other sites around Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, the site of the Tule Lake Internment Camp in California, and three World War II sites in the Aleutian Islands of Alaska. The USS Arizona Memorial and the other sites around Pearl Harbor are redesignated as the Pearl Harbor National Memorial.

The Tule Lake Unit of the Monument is redesignated as the Tule Lake National Monument, and this will effectively become the 419th Unit of the National Park System upon passage of the legislation (unless something very surprising happens between now and then). The Alaskan areas of the monument are redesignated as Aleutian Islands World War II National Monument, and they will continue to be managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and so will not be part of the National Park System.The Medgar and Myrlie Evers Home in Jackson, Mississippi could soon become the newest addition to the National Park System. Photo Credit: Jud McCranie in 2018 CC BY-SA 4.0 (the bill authorizes the establishment of two new units of the National Park System:.

Medgar and Myrlie Evers Home National Monument in Mississippi. Mill Springs Battlefield National Monument in KentuckyMedgar and Myrlie Evers were famed civil rights activists, and this national monument will protect the home where they lived in Jackson, Mississippi from 1956 up until Medgar’s asssasination in 1963. Mill Springs Battlefield is located near the town of Nancy in south-central Kentucky. In January 1862, it was the site of the first significant Union victory during the Civil War.Neither site will become the 420th unit of the National Park System just yet. Instead, both sites will become full-fledged national parks upon the acquisition of land for the sites by the National Park Service. In that sense, they join a pool of candidates that for that distinction that includes:.

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