WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Roger Wicker, R-Miss., today received the 2019 National Park Heritage Award from the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA). The award recognizes Senator Wicker’s support for this year’s lands package, the John D. Dingell, Jr. Conservation, Management, and Recreation Act (S.47).

“I am pleased to accept this award from the National Parks Conservation Association in recognition of my efforts to protect our national parks and public lands,” Wicker said. “I am especially thankful that this year’s lands package included the proposal Representative Bennie Thompson, Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith, and I authored to designate the Medgar and Myrlie Evers home in Jackson as a national monument within the National Park Service. The Evers are heroes whose contributions to the advancement of civil rights in Mississippi and our nation cannot be overstated.”

Wicker, Thompson, and Hyde-Smith introduced the Medgar and Myrlie Evers Home National Monument Act in the House and the Senate, which was included in the final lands package. You can read more about their legislation here.

Both Thompson and Hyde-Smith also received the NCPA award for their work to support the lands package. The full list of National Park Heritage Award recipients is available here.