WHAT WE DO

More than 140 years ago, Union and Confederate soldiers at Gettysburg fought the bloodiest battle in the nation's history, one that would serve as a turning point for the Civil War and for our country's future. Today, this Civil War classroom moves and educates close to 2 million visitors every year, yet nearly 150 historic structures in the park are in need of maintenance, from old stone walls, wooden fences, and bridge-to cannons, monuments, and equestrian statues. Regrettably, budgets for restoration and maintenance are deteriorating along with the structures themselves.

Crumbling Foundations

It's alarming to think that any structure in the National Register of Historic Places might have a roof caving in because of a lack of funding and preservation expertise, but the Park Service now finds that two-thirds of the structures in its care are in need of repair.

Some Civil War-era and early 20th century buildings in Harpers Ferry National Historical Park in West Virginia are in need of significant restoration to ensure their preservation and visitor safety. Additional resources are needed so that the Park Service is able to maintain the numerous 12th and 13th century masonry structures at Aztec Ruins National Monument in New Mexico. Without increased funding, the Warden's House and Officer's Club at Alcatraz, part of Golden Gate National Recreation Area in San Francisco cannot be preserved, and parts of the north end of Alcatraz Island must remain closed for safety reasons.

Oscar Blevins Farm, the most intact farmstead in Tennessee's Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area, is boarded up and closed to visitors because the Park Service cannot afford to maintain, preserve, or interpret the 1870s farmhouse for the public. Limited funding is available to stabilize and preserve the historic structures in Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area in Pennsylvania or to protect them from arson and vandalism. More than 70 percent of the historic and prehistoric structures in Canyonlands National Park, which offer physical evidence of prehistoric communities, early agriculture, and ranching, will be significantly damaged or irretrievably lost if action is not taken within the next two to five years. The Maritime Child Development Center at the Rosie the Riveter/World War II Homefront National Historic Site in Richmond, California, needs additional restoration funds so the story of the nation's unprecedented support for women workers and their children during World War II can be shared with visitors. The cost to remove lead paint and restore several historic buildings at Valley Forge National Historical Park in Pennsylvania was estimated to be nearly $19 million in the park's 2001 business plan. The buildings date back to General George Washington's 1777-78 encampment.

As these structures deteriorate, so too does our ability to teach our country's colorful history to the next generation.

Caretakers Needed

The phone book doesn't contain a list of experts qualified to repair wooden waterwheels, Civil War cannons, and ancient pueblos. So the Park Service needs to employ its own trained craftsmen and preservationists - experts in short supply, especially during lean budget times.

For example, Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado has one of the most comprehensive systems for tracking the restoration of its many historic structures. In addition, the park has completed an outstanding five-year plan to address the needs of its 150 historic buildings and structures - 30 percent of which were identified in 2002 as in poor condition.

But while deficiencies are well documented and a maintenance plan is in place, the Park Service may not be able to satisfy the plan because of a lack of funding to employ staff with appropriate expertise.

The Park Service's Vanishing Treasures initiative was launched in 1993 to provide project funding and train and employ new craftspeople to preserve prehistoric and historic ruins in nearly 50 national parks, primarily in the southwest. Unfortunately, this program has also felt the impact of chronic annual budget shortfalls.

Although Congress intended to fund the program to the tune of $60 million over ten years when it began providing funding in fiscal year 1998, the program has received "only a dribble of that," according to one cultural resources manager in the agency.

Key Recommendation: 
Increase Funding for Historic Preservation

Nearly 20 years after the Park Service was created, the Historic Sites Act of 1935 charged the agency with the responsibility of preserving historic sites, buildings, and objects of national significance.

Today, this mandate to preserve our shared past is in jeopardy because of insufficient funding.

Funding to restore and maintain historic structures for the national parks is not recorded as a single budget item, but rather, is available to park managers through monies generated by the Recreational Fee Demonstration Program (fees paid by visitors), through the operations and construction budgets of individual parks, and through the aforementioned Vanishing Treasures initiative.

The bipartisan National Park Centennial Act includes a provision for the creation of a new historic and cultural resource program to provide annual, dedicated funding for the protection of such resources in parks across the country. It comes none too soon. Congress must act now, before history textbooks are all that remain to tell the story of America's heritage.

Take Action

• Send a letter to your members of Congress encouraging them to support and co-sponsor the National Park Centennial Act.
• Volunteer >> if you have special interest or skills in archaeology or historic preservation, contact the Park Service's Center for Cultural Resources.

Learn More

• Read More >> For more information about historic preservation needs in the parks, read NPCA's State of the Parks® reports. 
• Learn >> about the National Park Service's efforts to preserve historic structures and cultural landscapes. 
  

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