National Parks advocates: You can't tell the 'players' without a scorecard
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(Colorado News Connection) For Colorado voters who want to consider national parks and public lands when they head to the polls, a 2024 Congressional Scorecard shows lawmakers' voting histories on the issues.
The National Parks Action Fund's scorecard grades members of Congress based on their votes on things like the 2024 spending bill for the Department of the Interior, which was cut by more than $430 million, or nearly 13 percent.
Randy Moorman, an environmental policy professional and mayor pro tem of the City of Arvada, said it could result in 1,000 fewer park rangers, a problem in places with high visitation like Colorado.
Rocky Mountain National Park. NPS.
"We have a lot of tourists that come and being able to manage all of those tourists in a very sustainable way that not only doesn't have an impact on our parks and our wildlife, but also our local communities," Moorman observed. "It's really important that those parks are well-staffed."
Colorado U.S. Representatives who received "F" scores were Lauren Boebert, Ken Buck and Doug Lamborn, all Republicans. Senators were not scored because they did not vote on parks this year.
Kristen Brengel, senior vice president of the National Parks Conservation Association, said another important Congressional vote could come soon on a bill introduced in September. It would amend the Endangered Species Act and more than 80 conservation groups wrote a joint letter to members of the U.S. House asking them to oppose it.
Brengel hopes the scorecard will help.
"We do this not to complain about a member of Congress," Brengel pointed out. "We do this because we want the members of Congress to vote better next time and to see the wisdom of voting pro-park."
