Creating jobs, one park ranger at a time
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President Obama says he hopes to save or create 600,000 jobs over the next 100 days with stimulus dollars. The president gave few details, but apparently some of those 600,000 jobs will be spread out among hundreds of National Parks across the country.
What is the first big project for the National Park Service? Putting a new roof on the visitors center at the Dinosaur National Monument.
The Chief of Public Affairs for the National Park Service, David Barna, says, "The park service has received $150 million in stimulus money, and we’re going to spend that in three broad areas: one category is restoring our national treasures, trying to improve these treasures and create lasting value for the American public. Also, projects that engage youth, our next generation of land managers, and also we are putting together a large package to promote energy efficiency at facilities in parks so that the public can learn about the value of energy efficiency and environemental sustainability and adopt these best practices at home."
Barna says that half of the money will be allocated hiring private contractors to repair and improve roadways and trails. Another portion will be spent on implementing photovoltaics to generate electricity from solar energy. Some of the parks are geographically remote; in some cases the photovoltaic option is more viable than running miles and miles of powerlines from faraway electricity generating facilities.
About 30,000 jobs will be created as a result of the National Park Service’s plan, according to Barna.
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