Actor and filmmaker Kevin Costner on Friday praised America's national parks and pressed for passage of legislation aimed at extending and reforming a major funding source for America's public lands.
"While visitations continue to grow, many of our parks are struggling with aging roads, deteriorating trails, outdated water systems, historic buildings in need of repair and staffing shortages that make it increasingly difficult to protect these resources and serve the public. We need the people who care for these places," Costner said during a House Committee on Natural Resources field hearing at the Arlington Resort Hotel & Spa in Hot Springs, Arkansas.
"There's really no better time for us to reaffirm our commitment to these places that tell America's story. Conservation can't afford to be a partisan issue."
The proposed Great American Outdoors Act 250, a bipartisan bill that would reauthorize the America's Legacy Restoration Fund, would repair and modernize aging infrastructure, address deferred maintenance backlogs, upgrade campgrounds, trails, roads, boat ramps, and visitor facilities, improve access and visitor experiences and support outdoor recreation opportunities.
Costner, who has long advocated for preserving national parks, also spoke about growing up in a family that couldn't afford trips to major tourist destinations.
Their vacations consisted of annual road trips to national parks.
"We could afford the gas to get us to the mighty sequoias, the high Sierras, to Yosemite. It was better than Paris, at least for a kid with my imagination. We could fish in a lake, sleep in a tent next to a stream, wake up to the smell of bacon and an open fire. It seemed wild," Costner said.
"What always struck me, but I couldn't articulate as a child, was that it never changed. It was undisturbed. It was comforting to know when I came back, it would look the same every time. It was perfect," Costner said. "Nature doesn't need a lot of help being perfect. But getting to this spot would have been impossible without a road, a marked trail, even our campsite was the perfect distance from the next camper."
The Great American Outdoors Act is still moving through the legislative process. The measure has bipartisan backing.