National parks to receive $53M for upkeep, projects
ESTES PARK» Despite a proposed 2018 budget that slashes funds for the national park system, the Trump administration is sending some needed funds in the parks’ direction.
The Department of Interior on Saturday announced $53 million for highpriority maintenance and infrastructure projects at 42 national parks — including $200,000 for Rocky Mountain National Park.
The funds were allocated to reduce deferred maintenance on the Alluvial Fan Trail, which was devastated by a 2013 flood. In total, the park will receive $400,000, because the Rocky Mountain Conservancy is matching the federal funds with another $200,000.
“No one is more passionate about our public lands than I am,” said Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke, who announced the allocation during a visit to Rocky Mountain National Park on Saturday morning. “I’m an advocate: Never sell, never transfer. But, let’s make sure that our public lands are managed well and the experience in our parks are maintained.”
Rocky Mountain National Park had $75 million in deferred maintenance projects in 2016, and the park system as a whole had $11.3 billion, according to National Park Service reports.
Of the $53 million grant, Congress contributed $20 million. More than 50 park partners teamed up to match the grant with $33 million.
After a federal hiring freeze from January until April, many national park service advocates were concerned with job cuts to the agency. And, in President Donald Trump’s proposed budget, the national parks would lose $400 million in fiscal year 2018.
Zinke appeared to speak in contradiction to the proposed budget, advocating during his remarks for “front line” hiring for the parks and funding for infrastructure.
“My job is to highlight the importance of our national parks,” Zinke said. “I think we’re too short on the front lines of our park personnel.”
The secretary has previously defended Trump’s agency cuts — including $1.6 billion to his own department — saying he supports the president’s efforts to balance the budget.
Zinke is in Colorado this weekend for the annual Western Conservative Summit, where he and other Republican figures spoke to supporters in Denver. The secretary said he spoke with the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a conservative free market policy group that influences policy agendas across the country, and told them that he does not support the transferring of public land to the private sector — something ALEC has long lobbied for.
“We kindly agree to disagree on this point,” Zinke said. “But, I think America is behind me with a love of our public lands, and the president is as well.”
While the $200,000 to Rocky Mountain National Park will help to restore the Alluvial Fan Trail, a few park visitors called it a drop in the bucket compared with the $75 million that Rocky Mountain National Park needs.
“It’s fine to give us some money, but in the meantime he’s cutting millions and this little drop in the bucket that he’s proposing to spread around all the parks is not going to mean much at all,” said Barbara Werner, a longtime Estes Park resident and park supporter who came to the park Saturday to protest. “It’s not really supporting the parks the way they should be.”
Rocky Mountain National Park attendance rises every year. The park had 4.5 million visitors in 2016, and visits in April were 21 percent higher than last year. It was the fourth most-visited national park in 2016.
During the announcement, Zinke advocated infrastructure improvements driven by public and private partnerships.
He said he wanted to incentivize longterm investments by private partners through projects such as Wi-fi and public transportation.
Zinke said his department would announce a plan this week for the $11.3 billion in deferred maintenance projects.
“As we look at (public and private partnership) going forward, it’s going to be, I think, terrific on what we’re going to do in the next couple years,” Zinke said.