Tackling The $12 Billion National Park Repair and Maintenance Backlog

Above, The Watchtower at Grand Canyon National Park. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Among other things, the Obama Administration bequeathed to the Trump Administration a $12 billion backlog of needed repairs and maintenance of the nation's national parks.

According to LakePowellLife.com:

With attendance at record levels in 2016, America’s national parks appear to be more popular than ever. However, advocates for the National Park Service say a $12 billion backlog in needed maintenance and repairs could mean fewer people will be able to enjoy America’s vast network of parks and monuments. 

Kimberly Pope, organizing representative with the Sierra Club’s Our Wild America program, said it will be up to the new secretary of the interior, Ryan Zinke, to restore the infrastructure of the nation’s 412 national parks. 

“What needs to be done, really,” she said, “is that the Trump administration and our new secretary of the interior should step up and offer a budget that reflects and prioritizes funding our park system for the long run, for all of us.” 

Zinke, formerly the sole U.S. House member from Montana, took over the Interior department on March 1 and said his top priority is to tackle the backlog. President Trump’s initial 2018 budget proposal calls for an overall 12 percent cut in agency funding, although it calls for an unspecified increase in parks maintenance.

One of the plans that were set into place for the backlog (before President Trump took office) was to increase the price of the senior lifetime national park pass from the current $10 to $80. Even thought this is a big price hike, $80 for the senior pass is still a bargain. Just entering Grand Canyon National Park last November, I saved myself the $30 entrance fee with the pass.

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