These parks in Washington state have been struggling to maintain their infrastructure with their lack of funding – but they have now gotten a huge financial boost thanks to a dead woman who loved the outdoors.
Bette Wallace, a woman who used to live in Washington before moving to California, recently passed away and left $1 million in her will to the state parks that she loved so dearly.
“On behalf of (Wallace’s) trust it was our family’s honor to make this donation on her behalf to the Washington’s National Park Fund knowing it will be used for many projects including a combination of saving lives and supporting volunteer infrastructure in the parks,” Cheri Ryan, Wallace’s niece and the estate’s trustee, said in a statement.
The Mount Rainier Olympic parks plan on using their portion of the funding to create a monitoring system that will hopefully ensure the safety of their rangers in the wilderness and reduce rescuer response time. The North Cascades National Park plans on bulking up infrastructure for their volunteers.
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“This funding comes at a pivotal time for Washington’s three largest national parks,” Sarah Creachbaum, Olympic National Park’s superintendent, said in a statement.
“Our country’s national parks have experienced many financial challenges in recent years and there is a significant maintenance backlog. This wonderful donation via [Washington National Parks Foundation] WNPF enables us to invest in much-needed safety technology that can quite literally save lives in Washington for years to come.”
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