Introduction of the Rock Creek National Park Act of 2024

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, today, I introduce a bill to redesignate the United States-owned Rock Creek Park in the District of Columbia as ``Rock Creek National Park.'' Redesignating this park will highlight its significance to the Nation, including visitors to the Nation's capital, and will help bring much-needed funding for the park's inviting trails, waterways, and other unique features.

Rock Creek Park is already a ``national'' park, as it was established by Congress in 1890 ``for the benefit and enjoyment of the people of the United States.'' Rock Creek Park was the first federally managed urban park and the third federal park ever created, after Yellowstone and Sequoia. Rock Creek Park was designed to preserve animals, timber, forestry, and other interests in the park, and to ensure that its natural state is maintained as much as possible not only for D.C. residents, but for all Americans. The park also preserves the ancient history of the land, as it was used for temporary settlements and as a quarry for weapons and tools by Native Americans from 7000 BCE until the 1600s.

Since Congress first designated Rock Creek Park, several structures and properties have been established or donated to further preserve Rock Creek Park, creating a vast connected park area that falls under a central National Park Service jurisdiction. In 1892, the federal government acquired Peirce Mill in Rock Creek Park, one of the mills used by local farmers during the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries. In 1950, the Old Stone House located in Georgetown, with its pre- Revolutionary War architecture, was acquired by the park. The building was restored and programs explain the house's rich history from the colonial period to the present day. The Fort Circle Parks were also acquired to interpret and preserve the Civil War Defenses of Washington, which created a ring of protection for the Nation's capital during the Civil War. The Carter Barron Amphitheater, established in honor of the 150th anniversary of the Nation's capital, became an integral part of D.C.'s live music scene, and has featured acts including Ella Fitzgerald, Diana Ross, and Earth, Wind and Fire, as well as local artists. The redesignated ``Rock Creek National Park'' would encompass these later additions to the park.

Today, Rock Creek Park offers residents of D.C., Maryland, and Northern Virginia, as well as visitors, an escape from our increasingly urban environment. Residents and tourists alike enjoy many activities in the park's 2,000 acres, including hiking and biking on the trails, horseback riding, picnicking, tennis, and other recreational activities in some of the open fields. Our residents have expressed their appreciation by volunteering to clean up and maintain the forests, trails, and waterways.

In 1918, landscape architects John Charles Olmstead and Frederick Law Olmstead, Jr. wrote of Rock Creek Park, ``No matter how perfect the scenery of the park may be or may become, no matter how high its potential value, that value remains potential except insofar as it is enjoyed by large and ever larger numbers of people, poor and rich alike,'' Redesignating Rock Creek Park as Rock Creek National Park will help recognize the national status of the park and protect and revitalize this remarkable resource in our Nation's capital.

I urge my colleagues to support this bill.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source