National parks need $12 billion
Maintenance deferred at 400 national parks from the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco to the Statue of Liberty in New York has ballooned to almost $12 billion, the National Park Service says.
That’s a $440 million increase from the year before and a record high, according to a Park Service report for the 2015 fiscal year released last week.
The National Park Service celebrates its centennial Aug. 25, the day Yellowstone National Park was established. Many parks are having special events and yearlong hiking challenges to attract more people and new people to the parks, which will add to the strain of crumbling roads and peeling paint on buildings.
According to the report, the top five Park Service properties with maintenance backlogs are:
The National Mall in Washington, $840 million.
Gateway National Recreation Area in New Jersey and New York, $731 million.
Yellowstone National Park in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming, $603 million.
Yosemite National Park in California, $555 million.
Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina and Virginia, $517 million.
“Congress has underfunded the National Park Service for years, forcing cutbacks in staffing, maintenance, educational programs and other visitor services,” Theresa Pierno of the National Parks Conservation Association said in a statement. “We need to give these places the attention they deserve.”