Great Lakes states pump $211 million into the local economies and sustain 4,400 jobs

Recommended article from La Prensa, Salazar: Visiting our parks is one way of bolstering an ailing economy:

If the economy woes are bringing you down, take a hike in the lush Metroparks or camp in the Emerald Necklace to recuperate your senses and reconnect with the environment. Spending your family vacation visiting natural parks is one way to bolster the ailing U.S. economy.

Department of Interior is allocating $3 billion nationally under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 to create 100,000 jobs that cannot be outsourced, conserve natural treasures, and generate renewable and efficient energy and protect the environment.

Speaking at the City Club of Cleveland on June 2, 2009, Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar said the country’s economic recovery will begin in Ohio. The Buckeye state is slated to receive $23 million of which more than $7 million will be invested in Cuyahoga Valley National Park to upgrading nine miles of railroad, closing four hazardous abandoned oil and gas wells to restore the natural landscapes, and repairing the historic Tinker’s Creek aqueduct.

“The investment we are making in Ohio will create jobs,” Salazar said. He said Pres. Obama has made economic recovery a top priority and the administration is seeking solutions that will set the nation on a path to energy independence,

Salazar said national park sites in the Great Lakes states pump $211 million into the local economies and sustain 4,400 jobs. “At Cuyahoga Valley National Park alone, two and a half million people visit each year, spending $38 million annually in the local economy, supporting nearly a thousand jobs,” Salazar said. “Supporting our parks and refuges is something that benefits everyone.”