Letter to the President of the Senate and to the Speaker of the House of Representatives on National Park System Plan "Mission 66."

Dear :

Our National Parks, Monuments and Historic Sites, and other areas comprising the National Park System, are valued and irreplaceable national treasures. It is the responsibility of the Federal Government to preserve them and manage them perpetually for the enjoyment of all Americans.

With an increasing appreciation of the inspiration and recreation which these areas offer, more and more of our people are visiting them every year. The Secretary of the Interior has recently informed me that visitor attendance is growing so rapidly that the parks are being damaged and all services and facilities are seriously over-taxed. Unless vigorous action is taken, many Americans visiting the parks will be frustrated in gaining the scenic and educational benefits they seek and deserve.

The Secretary of the Interior and the Director of the National Park Service have been deeply concerned, as have I, about these inadequacies. They have just completed a thorough study of the present and future needs of the National Park System and have prepared a comprehensive, ten-year plan, known as "Mission 66," to meet these anticipated needs. The plan provides for a wellbalanced schedule for protection, development, and staffing which can begin immediately.

I have requested the Secretary of the Interior to submit this plan to the Congress and, to the extent that funds are available therefor in the current fiscal year, to make an immediate beginning. There will shortly be transmitted to the Congress an amendment of the 1957 Budget so that adequate provision may be made for carrying the program forward without delay in the new fiscal year.

Sincerely,

DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER