Budget cuts jeopardize region

As a paddler, my family and I have gained great enjoyment from our trips to the Current River and other areas in Southern Missouri. As an Iowan, I appreciate the opportunity to visit great outdoor areas in surrounding states.

I will be visiting the Current River this week to paddle for two days, rent campground space and canoes, and spend money at local restaurants and attractions. I am returning to an area I frequented as a child and hope to return to with my kids and grandkids for years to come.

This is why I'm troubled by recent movement to cut budgets at the Department of the Interior that will jeopardize important areas like the Ozark Scenic Riverways region. Public investments in these areas protect a vital natural resource and economic engine.

Investment in the outdoors also provides an important source of income to the Southern Missouri economy from local and out-of-town visitors. Across our country, federal investment in public lands supports 6.5 million U.S. jobs.

I'm contacting our local elected officials in Iowa to support funding for these programs. I hope residents in the area will do the same.

MARK LANGGIN, Des Moines, Iowa