Whitetailer91
New member
- Joined
- Jan 1, 2016
- Messages
- 4
Hello all. I am in the process of drafting a follow up email to a senator who responded to the form email I sent from http://sportsmensaccess.org/ the following is his email then what I have this far. Understand this is a draft and I know I will be revising this letter tomorrow. Your sincere suggestions are appreciated I will be rewording certain pieces;
Senators response to form email:
"Thank you for contacting me about our national parks system. I appreciate your correspondence and hope that you find this response helpful.
In December 2014, Congress approved the creation of a Coltsville National Historic Park dedicated to the accomplishments of Samuel Colt and the role that his firearms and factory played in the Industrial Revolution. I was excited to work with the National Park Service (NPS) and others in our delegation to bring this project to fruition. Designating Coltsville as a National Park will help boost economic development and tourism in the region, and will help educate visitors from across the country about Connecticut's manufacturing history. Furthermore, I have long been proud that Connecticut is home to several NPS-designated areas, including the Appalachian National Scenic Trail, the Quinebaug and Shetucket Rivers Valley National Heritage Corridor, and Weir Farm National Historic Site.
For more than ninety years our national parks have been some of our country's greatest treasures. The 398 national parks across the United States receive over 275 million visitors each year. The NPS cares for these spaces with the help of over 20,000 employees and over 2 million volunteers. However, our national parks have a massive and growing backlog of maintenance and infrastructure needs, and we must ensure that they are not unfairly neglected as we work to safeguard our national treasures. These mounting costs are affecting the NPS's ability to perform its most basic functions, including adequately protecting our parks and enhancing the experience of visitors through education and engagement. I started out in politics as an environmental advocate, and I will continue this important work in the Senate by pushing for greater resources to protect and enhance our national parks.
Thank you again for contacting me about this matter. I appreciate hearing from you and assure you that I will always do my best to represent the views of my constituents in the Senate. In the future, please do not hesitate to call me in my Connecticut office at (860) or in my Washington office at (202)."
My follow up draft:
"Senator Murphy,
Thank you for getting back to me in regards to protecting federal public lands. While I share your enthusiasm for the National Parks Service this is not the only agency responsible for public lands. The Bureau of Land Management, (over 245 million acres), US Forest Service (193 million acres) and US Fish and Wildlife (150 million acres of National Wildlife Refuges) also manage a great deal of public land within the United States, in fact the combined acreage under their collective purview is seven times the acreage of the National Parks System at 84 million acres. As you are aware all four of these agencies are under some level of multiple use mandate which is intended to balance varying uses for the American people in the present as well as the future. With this being said a lack of funding from the congressional level leaves these agencies as you point out in danger of being unfairly neglected. For example funds needed for the control of wildfires is allocated from operations budgets rather than from FEMA as other natural disaster relief efforts are funded.
With the issues associated with federal management of these lands there is now a push in some political segments for the transfer of federal lands to the states they lie in. States are not equipped to fund management of these lands and many western states have a history of selling their state lands as well as restricting access. Please do all you can to fund management of these federal agencies and their lands as well as oppose any attempt to transfer these lands which will ultimately lead to their sale and/or lack of public access. Thank you for your time."
Let me know what you think. Thanks
Senators response to form email:
"Thank you for contacting me about our national parks system. I appreciate your correspondence and hope that you find this response helpful.
In December 2014, Congress approved the creation of a Coltsville National Historic Park dedicated to the accomplishments of Samuel Colt and the role that his firearms and factory played in the Industrial Revolution. I was excited to work with the National Park Service (NPS) and others in our delegation to bring this project to fruition. Designating Coltsville as a National Park will help boost economic development and tourism in the region, and will help educate visitors from across the country about Connecticut's manufacturing history. Furthermore, I have long been proud that Connecticut is home to several NPS-designated areas, including the Appalachian National Scenic Trail, the Quinebaug and Shetucket Rivers Valley National Heritage Corridor, and Weir Farm National Historic Site.
For more than ninety years our national parks have been some of our country's greatest treasures. The 398 national parks across the United States receive over 275 million visitors each year. The NPS cares for these spaces with the help of over 20,000 employees and over 2 million volunteers. However, our national parks have a massive and growing backlog of maintenance and infrastructure needs, and we must ensure that they are not unfairly neglected as we work to safeguard our national treasures. These mounting costs are affecting the NPS's ability to perform its most basic functions, including adequately protecting our parks and enhancing the experience of visitors through education and engagement. I started out in politics as an environmental advocate, and I will continue this important work in the Senate by pushing for greater resources to protect and enhance our national parks.
Thank you again for contacting me about this matter. I appreciate hearing from you and assure you that I will always do my best to represent the views of my constituents in the Senate. In the future, please do not hesitate to call me in my Connecticut office at (860) or in my Washington office at (202)."
My follow up draft:
"Senator Murphy,
Thank you for getting back to me in regards to protecting federal public lands. While I share your enthusiasm for the National Parks Service this is not the only agency responsible for public lands. The Bureau of Land Management, (over 245 million acres), US Forest Service (193 million acres) and US Fish and Wildlife (150 million acres of National Wildlife Refuges) also manage a great deal of public land within the United States, in fact the combined acreage under their collective purview is seven times the acreage of the National Parks System at 84 million acres. As you are aware all four of these agencies are under some level of multiple use mandate which is intended to balance varying uses for the American people in the present as well as the future. With this being said a lack of funding from the congressional level leaves these agencies as you point out in danger of being unfairly neglected. For example funds needed for the control of wildfires is allocated from operations budgets rather than from FEMA as other natural disaster relief efforts are funded.
With the issues associated with federal management of these lands there is now a push in some political segments for the transfer of federal lands to the states they lie in. States are not equipped to fund management of these lands and many western states have a history of selling their state lands as well as restricting access. Please do all you can to fund management of these federal agencies and their lands as well as oppose any attempt to transfer these lands which will ultimately lead to their sale and/or lack of public access. Thank you for your time."
Let me know what you think. Thanks
