Morning, everyone. The committee will come to order. Were here to examine the deferred maintenance needs of the public Land Management agencies. This is a topic i care about. I know each of you certainly, the folks on this committee, have expressed concern. Not just coming into this hearing today, but, really, over the years. When we consider deferred maintenance, we most commonly think of the 12 billion maintenance backlog accrued by the National Park service. We consider that here in the committee at great length and it rightfully continues to attract a great deal of national attention. But somehow and sometimes overlooked in this conversation are the deferred maintenance needs of the other federal Land Management agencies, including the Forest Service, the bureau of Land Management and fish and Wildlife Service. Combined with the park service, these four agencies face a deferred maintenance backlog totalling 19. 4 billion. Thats worthy of repeating. Within these four agencies that govern our public lands, almost 20 billion in deferred maintenance backlog. This is an overwhelming amount that covers everything from direct Visitor Experiences to projects that will perhaps never be noticed by the average family. Regardless of the agency were talking about, deferred maintenance needs are very real. Families visiting the grand canyon National Park should not be greeted by locked bathrooms and campers should not be left without access to shower and laundry facilities, as was the case for ten days when the sole water line serving the canyon burst last month. This is a water line thats had over 80 separate breaks since 2010. So its not like we didnt see this one coming. For us in alaska, one that hits close to home, is in denahli National Park where earlier this summer, we had a Service Truck that slid off the gravel back field park road. Weve heard a lot about polychrome pass. Fortunately, the driver wasnt injured there but were looking at a practical reality with the landslides and the slumping or slippage that is going to require if not a significant overhaul, a complete rerouting of that road at incredible expense. And while recreation is a major driver of this discussion, deferred maintenance impacts wildlife, conservation and Development Opportunities as well. Blm has identified 57 miles of roads in Eastern Oregon in need of repair. These roads support timber operations, they provide a way of life for wildlife managers to access the heart of chinook salmon spawning areas. In colorado, a project to remove and replant trees that have been killed by spruce beetle on 1100 acres of fireprone land has stalled indefinitely because of the poor Road Conditions in the Rio Grande National forest. In many cases, roads, bridges, waste Water Systems and other federal assets are intertwined with the needs of local communities. Counties and boroughs have an obligation to ensure the safety of their citizens and vitality of their local economy. And that means the infrastructure they share with their federal neighbor, including the roads used by First Responders have to be well maintained, or at least maintained. As part of the conversation today well discuss the need to develop meaningful, creative and fiscally sound solutions to ensure the longterm maintenance of our expensive public lands infrastructure. Well consider the need for federal agencies to prioritize routine maintenance to prevent projects from becoming backlogged in the first place. And well also discuss the role of philanthropic donations, Public Private partnerships and intergovernmental agreements that are in place today. So im pleased to be able to welcome our witnesses to the committee to help us advance this important discussion. Weve got representatives from the department of interior, the Forest Service, as well as the recreation industry. Accounting government and an advocate for public land stewardship. It really represents the breadth of stakeholders who are involved in this issue. I know all of you are looking to congress to say, okay, what are we going to do . How we are going to deal with this . I appreciate you being here. Ill turn to my Ranking Member, senator manchin, and then move to the witnesses. Thank you for scheduling this important hearing and thank you for being here. With the maintenance needs facing our federal Land Management agencies, its overwhelming. This committee has spent a lot of time over the last few years reviewing proposals to address the National Park services almost 12 billion backlog of deferred maintenance programmings. Our National Parks are one of the countrys greatest ideas and falls on us to make sure were laying the groundwork for the next 100 years. Well also discuss the deferred maintenance backlog of forist service and other Land Management agencies in need of close examination. Taken together, combined backlog of the deferred maintenance needs has totaled more than 19 billion. And thats billion with a b. So this is a serious funding problem. It is clear it cannot be addressed solely through regular appropriations process. Even though West Virginia may not have the same amount of federal land as some of the western states, deferred maintenance is challenging my little state of West Virginia. And my state alone, the Park Services deferred maintenance of nearly 60 million. And u. S. Fish and Wildlife Service has funding backlog of almost 7 million. Thats over 100 million of federal deferred maintenance needs in a state of about 1. 8 Million People. Addressing the maintenance backlog will allow the agencies to fulfill their mission to protecting nationally significant treasures and provide access to people that use the lands for hunting, fishing, shooting, hiking and all types of recreation. National park system areas draw over 318 million visitors each year and generate over 40 billion in annual economic output. National forest draw an additional 149 million visitors each yoor and generate over 11 billion in economic output. A lot of this money goes into Rural Communities that have few of the resources of income because of the remoteness of their areas. Improving the visitors experience means more local jobs and a stronger economy in rural america. I hope we can use todays hearing to identify options and lay the groundwork to address the deferred maintenance needs before us. I want to make sure the agencies have plans in place that will not only identify the highest priority projects but also want to make sure the agencies have longterm maintenance funding in place so we dont end up right back where we started. When i was governor, i used to have everybody come to me. And they always told me they needed money for this, this and this. But yet, any money they got, theyd use for a new project or new buildings. Never took care of what they had. So i stopped all the money. You dont need another penny until you take care of what you got. They never built it in their budget. Maintenance funding was never built in the building. Everything but maintenance funding was built in the budget. Were going to find out today whats going on and how to best address this. In my view, basically, the key to establishing reliable revenue source. I understand the federal government has a different way of approaching how we do bonding. In states we would bond out. Dedicated revenue, wed bond it out and fix the problem and make sure it didnt happen again. The federal government has it different because we cant, and appropriations obviously, cant obligate future senators to commitments of how the monies will be spent. So several years ago, the National Park service estimated it would take 700 million each yoor just to keep the maintenance problem from getting worse. I dont know what the estimate is for the other agencies but it would take more than that. In addition, the longer we drag our feet, the worse it gets. Our best chance of getting something to try to pass to restore our parks act. Thats from senators partman, alexander, warner and king. Im one of the cosponsors. Most of vus suppous have suppor. It would provide 5 billion over fuf years to address the National Park funding needs. The house companion includes funding for other agencies in addition to the park service and we can explore those in more detail today. Congress for the first time ever, the committee reported mandatory funding bills for National Park deferred maintenance and we reported legislation to provide mandatory funding for the land and Water Conservation fund. I know we have a hearing scheduled for next week, and i thank the chairman very much for that. But i think the best path forward is to find a way to address both the maintenance and funding issues while preserving and oversight of these funds. I understand that passing bills will be a challenge but theres a broad bipartisan support for both the deferred maintenance and lwc funding. It would have a lasting benefit to many of our nations most treasured lands. Well help improve Public Access to these areas and enhance the importance of our federal lands. I look forward to working with my colleagues to find a way to get these bills signed into law. I look forward to hearing from each of you. Thank you, senator manchin. Were joined this morning by mr. Scott cameron who is the Principal Deputy assistant secretary of policy, management and budget at the department of interior. We welcome you. Ms. Lenise lago is the associate chief at the Forest Service. Welcome to the committee. Liz archuleta is the supervisor for Coconino County in arizona on the board of supervisors. We thank you for making the trip back. Mr. Dan puskar is the president and ceo of the Public Lands Alliance. Thank you for what you do. And ms. Jessica wahle is the executive director for the Outdoor Recreation roundtable. We welcome each of you. Wed ask that you try to keep your comments this morning to about five minutes. Your full statements will be incorporated as part of the record. Once you have each given your statement, well have an opportunity to pose our questions and engage in some back and forth. Mr. Cameron, if youd like to lead off. Chairman murkowski, Ranking Member manchin, members of the committee. Thank you for the opportunity to discuss the department of interiors infrastructure, including deferred maintenance. The department of the interior manages infrastructure portfolio with the replacement value of about 300 billion with a b dollars. Ranging from large dams and canals in the west to National Landmarks like the statue of liberty and the Washington Monument on the east coast. Roads, bridges, trails, Water Systems, laboratories, employee housing, Visitors Centers and schools campgrounds and drinking fountains are part of this critical but often unnoticed portfolio of assets. In total, interior is responsible for 43,000 buildings, nearly 100,000 miles of road and 77,000 structures. Interior manages approximately 20 of all land in the United States and operates in 2,400 loe locations across the country. Interior lands and facilities serve nearly 5 million visitors annually, provide schooling for approximately 47,000 indian children and provide critical access for the public to hike, boat, hunt, fish and enjoy numerous other outdoor activities. Interiors facilities directly contribute to our bureaus ability to fulfill our varied missions. After years of increased visitation and use, our aging facilities and other vital structures are in urgent need of repair. Investment in interiors infrastructure also benefits local economies. In fy 2017, activities on lands in total were associated with about 165 billion in value added to the u. S. Economy. Almost 300 billion in economic output and supported almost 2 million jobs. Aging infrastructure impacts our ability to serve the public at interior. Many of these assets are deteriorating with older assets becoming increasingly more expensive to repair and maintain in good condition. At the end of fy 2018, the departments total deferred maintenance backlog was 16. 4 billion. The maintenance of these assets and the preservation of the publics access to our National Parks, wildlife refuges, Indian Schools and federal lands more generally is a federal responsibility. Reducing interiors infrastructure deferred maintenance backlog, along with modernization of our facilities of the top priority under this administration. Just last week, secretary bernhart and the Vice President were at yellowstone National Park working with our employees to repair some of the infrastructure at the park to draw attention to this important issue. All facilities and equipment naturally degrade over time as senator manchin observed. Ident deficiencies and are being corrected, other deficiencies show themselves and existing deficiencies get worse unless they are addressed in a timely manner. Construction, maintenance, and repairs completed on a Real Property asset cannot reflect a oneanddone mindset, nor is it wise or Cost Effective to build or repair an asset and let it run to failure. According to a National Academy of sciences study, private industry standards suggest that an amount equal to 2 to 4 of the replacement value of construction assets be invested in maintenance each year. In contrast, currently interior is able to invest less than one half of 1 each year. Accompanying the president s 2020 budget for interior is the reproposal of the Public Lands Infrastructure Fund that it was alluded to earlier. It would generate up to 6. 5 billion over five years for a deferred maintenance need for the departments of the interior and agriculture. This investment would significantly improve the publics experience at many of americas most visible, visited, and treasured places. We are delighted that the senate has before it, before this committee, legislation to deal with the parks. We understand that there is companion or related legislation on the house side that may be going to markup as early as tomorrow. And we eagerly look forward to working with the congress to enact this legislation. Id also point out that a significant portion of our assets are actually funded through the department of transportation, federal highways, administration, and weve got a great working relationship with the department of transportation on that. I look forward to answering questions from the committee and thank you so much for your attention to this vital issue. Thank you. Ms. Lago, welcome. Thank you, mmadam chairman a members of the community. Thank you for inviting me to share the position on agricultural within the department of agriculture and Forest Service. I want acknowledge how it is to roads, trails, bridges, Visitors Centers used by the public or offices, air tanker bases, employee housing, water, wasteWater Systems used by employees, theyre all part of the infrastructure thats the physical link between americans and their public lands. People depend on a safe Forest Service road network to get to schools, stores, hospitals, and homes. The roads system is critical to carrying out active management to improve forest conditions. Perhaps most critically, forest infrastructure provides Fire Protection for communities. Firefighters and Emergency Responders used forest infrastructure to access forest lands for firefighting operations, to protect communities, evacuate families from areas at risk, and to rescue individuals from danger. Id like to also highlight the economic benefits communities derive from Forest Service infrastructure. The Forest Service provides the most diverse recreation opportunities in the nation across worldclass landscapes that attract over 149 million visitors annually. Both directly and indirectly National Forest visitor spending contributes over 10 billion to the u. S. Economy every year while supporting about 143,000 jobs, mostly in gateway and Rural Communities. Outdoor recreation and tourism are the singlegreatest source of jobs on the National Forest system and the single greatest stimulus for local economies. A specific interest here is deferred maintenance. In my written testimony it includes tables listing sharious assets the Forest Service owns and maintains and