# What This Bill Does

This bill expands a national historical park in Vermont called Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller to include more land and adds a new educational program. The park, located in Woodstock, Vermont, preserves the historic mansion and surrounding property of the Marsh, Billings, and Rockefeller families, who were important figures in American conservation history.

The main change is that the park's boundaries are being redrawn to include additional land, including the King Farm and the Billings Farm and Museum. The bill divides this expanded area into different zones: a historic zone centered around the mansion and Mt. Tom, and a protection zone that includes the working farm and museum. This means the National Park Service will be able to manage more land and potentially acquire it over time through donations, purchases, or exchanges with willing sellers. The bill specifically allows the King Farm to continue operating as a working farm and forest, so it won't just become a museum—people can still grow crops, raise animals, and conduct forestry operations there, which keeps the area functioning as it historically has.

The bill also creates something called the National Park Service Stewardship Institute at the park. This institute will run workshops, educational programs, and research projects focused on teaching people about land conservation and good stewardship practices. It's designed to help the National Park Service share what it learns about protecting natural and historic resources with other parks and communities.

For Vermont residents and visitors, this means the park will have more to offer in terms of educational opportunities and preserved historic land, while still allowing the working farms in the area to continue their agricultural operations.