Final Interior Spending Bill Passes Congress Measure Contains More Than $3 Million for Arkansas Projects WASHINGTON D.C. - Members of the Arkansas Congressional Delegation today announced that Congress has finalized the Interior Appropriations Conference Report which includes $3.012 million for various Arkansas projects. The spending bill is now primed to be signed into law by President Bush.
The six members of the Arkansas Congressional Delegation who fought for the projects announced today are as follows: Senators Blanche Lincoln (D) and Mark Pryor (D), Representatives Marion Berry (D-1st), Vic Snyder (D-2nd), John Boozman (R-3rd), and Mike Ross (D-4th).
The Interior Appropriations Conference Report includes $1.012 million for the rehabilitation of the Quapaw, Ozark and Lamar Bathhouses in Hot Springs National Park. The restoration effort is intended to make the bathhouses suitable for leasing to private developers as part of a long-term project to use public and private resources to rehabilitate and redevelop Bathhouse Row for future use.
The Interior Appropriations Conference Report includes $1 million for the former Girl Scout Camp Ouachita in Perry County to complete the needed historic restoration and rehabilitation of Phase II construction which includes all walkways, a cluster of cabins and a sewer line. Designed and dedicated as a camp for the Little Rock Girl Scout Council, Camp Ouachita consists of approximately 50 buildings built by the Works Programs Administration (WPA) and the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) between 1936 and 1940.
Also included in the legislation is $1 million for the Mammoth Spring National Fish Hatchery near Mammoth Spring for planning, design and full renovation of the current facilities at the site. This hatchery was built in the 1960's and has over 90,000 visitors from Missouri and Arkansas each year.
In addition, The Interior spending legislation directs the National Park Service to move forward with planning for a visitors center at Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site.
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