Wrangell-St. Elias National Park

National parks cost every American about $8 per head per year. And parks contribute about $13.2 billion to the economy, even as they received $2.6 billion in funding for 2011, an amount which already was cut $140 million. Overall funding for the NPS has been cut by $400 million since 2001. Nobody in this space would argue that the parks aren’t a freaking bargain, but under the recent budget agreement, if the so-called Super Committee in congress cannot find $1.3 trillion to excise from national spending, there are threatened across-the-board cuts of 9 percent — that’s $231 million more cut from the parks. This might be the last straw, because the parks are all massively hamstrung already, with a backlog of $3.7 billion in critical maintenance (that’d be stuff like roads and building safety), and are incredibly short-staffed, too. If the park system is a bargain right now, that’s also a mirage, because it’s crumbling under the weight of unprecedented traffic (281 million visitors in 2010, nearly 90 percent of the population of this country).

If this avalanche of numbers leaves you a little numb, a new report by the National Parks Conservation Association puts matters in a starker light, explaining where we are now — and how untenable the situation will get next summer if the mandatory budget ax of the Super Committee falls on the NPS. The now is pretty ugly:

* The Park Service’s budget for construction and routine maintenance is $325 million short of what the agency needs. Parks like Yellowstone and the Grand Canyon are grossly underfunded for maintaining clean water and sewage treatment, as well as roofs, foundations, and roads.

* Budget cuts prompted Wrangell-St. Elias officials to reduce their seasonal employment ranks by 24 positions for the summer of 2011.

* Zion has precisely one ranger on staff to respond night emergencies for the entire park.

* Lack of funding at Acadia National Park has left 15 permanent staff positions unfilled.

* Blue Ridge Parkway’s budget allows for just 170 of its 240 allocated full-time positions to be filled. Just 10 permanent interpretive rangers are on staff for the parkway’s 14 visitor contact facilities.

* Because of zeroed-out funding for land acquisition, at Valley Forge, George Washington’s headquarters were nearly sold to private development.

More broadly, the NPCA report warns that further cuts could result in campground, visitor center, and interpretive center closures, field trips being turned away, and for the potential for looting and vandalism to increase (the NPS has already warned that they don’t have the resources to inventory the historical artifacts it has, so losses may be happening now, because there’s no accurate record of the items). There’s also concern that fewer cops will result in more illegal drug trafficking and growing within park boundaries, and that monitoring and protection of endangered species will fall further behind, even at risk of violating federal law.

While Americans view Congress with a very dim eye, 85 percent of Americans favor the full funding of national parks. It’s unlikely that that will translate into adding back the $400 million the NPS has lost since 2001′s budget, but it’s also just as plain that any additional cuts may actually lead to park closures, perhaps after someone gets hurt because infrastructure isn’t maintained or rangers aren’t employed to guide people or to respond to emergencies.

In cooperation with National Parks Traveler. Environmental coverage made possible in part by support from Patagonia. For information on Patagonia and its environmental efforts, visit www.patagonia.com.

Tagged as: national parks, policy, public lands