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| From the redwood forests to the Gulf Stream islands, America’s national parks are the touchstones of our shared history and culture and protect our breathtaking national heritage. But the parks have been withering for years, suffering without sufficient staff and operating funds. As a result, despite the best efforts of park employees and volunteers, visitors may not see many national park rangers this summer, but they will see crumbling roads, visitor centers that are outdated and unsafe, overgrown vistas, and campgrounds and trails that are poorly maintained. |
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"The federal government has clear responsibility for the Everglades, as in each of the nearly 400 other national parks. In recent years, that obligation has sometimes been neglected. Many parks have lacked the resources they need for their basic care and maintenance. My administration will restore and renew America's national parks."
President George W. Bush
Everglades National Park
June 4, 2001 | |
Nearly four years ago, George W. Bush announced his intention to “eliminate” the backlog of park maintenance projects and “restore and renew” America’s national parks. It was a promise repeated often. President Bush even included the pledge in his 2001 State of the Union address to the Congress. But the backlog continues to grow. Congress and the administration have failed to fund the elimination of the backlog or provide sufficient annual funding to meet the parks’ operating shortfall, which would stem the backlog’s growth.
Instead, through creative accounting and forecasting, some in the administration seek to take credit for providing $4.9 billion toward the maintenance backlog by fiscal year 2006. Yet only $662 million is new funding—the rest includes funding raised by national park visitors’ entrance fees or money already coming to the parks for day-to-day repairs over the past four years.
The national parks’ deferred maintenance backlog, now estimated at $4.1 billion to $6.8 billion, is more than double the Park Service’s entire annual operating budget. It includes projects such as visitor center repairs, invasive species removal, electrical and fire-suppression system upgrades, road and bridge rehabilitation, and historic building restoration.
Something can be done.
Half of the administration’s strategy for eliminating the parks’ maintenance backlog was to include $2.7 billion for road and bridge maintenance from the reauthorization of the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century, currently pending in Congress. The Senate version of the legislation allocates more than $300 million a year for the national parks, of which $270 million annually would be available for repairing and rebuilding park roads and bridges over the next six years.
But this will not happen without active legislative leadership by the administration and Congress. The transportation bill, one step toward addressing the backlog, can’t pass soon enough—the nation’s heritage is at risk.
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