Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt today pointed out that "many" former military bases are being turned over to state and local governments for parks and conservation areas under the National Park Service's Federal Lands to Parks Program.
In a letter to the editor of the Washington Post, Babbitt said states and local communities are looking to obtain more than 14,000 acres of phased-out military land through this "little- known program" begun in 1949.
Babbitt wrote in response to a 3/21 Post story on the conversion of defense lands to federal wildlife refuges.
The lands can be transferred to state and local governments at no cost, as long as they are forever used as parks and conservation areas. At first, communities were required to pay 50% of the cost, but Congress eliminated this requirement in 1970 as open space dwindled.
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