The cost of fixing the backlog of maintenance and repair projects in America's National Parks remains approximately the same as when President Bush took office, despite his campaign pledge to eliminate it within five years.[1]
The National Park Service, which has acknowledged it still does not have accurate data on the maintenance needs, loosely estimates the deferred backlog for repair of deteriorating buildings, roads, bridges and sewer systems by 2006 at between $4.1-$6.8 billion. When President Bush promised to eliminate the backlog during the 2000 campaign, the estimate was $4.9 billion.[2]
However, as the deputy director of the National Park Service testified in a Senate hearing last July, the administration has actually only spent some $200-$300 million to address the backlog, nowhere near the amount needed to meet President Bush's pledge.
The Bush Administration has also failed to address the root cause of the backlog -- insufficient operating and maintenance dollars. The park system continues to operate with an annual shortfall of over $600 million, or approximately 32 percent less than needed.[3]
"For all the President's rhetoric and promises, he has not come close to narrowing the gap on the maintenance backlog," says Ron Tipton, a senior vice-president at the National Parks Conservation Association.
The situation at Ellis Island, for example, has improved little since 2001 when the General Accounting Office reported that about 20 "structures on the island have deteriorated and are in serious need of repair."[4] Ellis Island caretakers must store artifacts in rooms with leaking roofs and peeling walls, according to the GAO.[5] This has led private organization, Save Ellis Island, to launch a significant capital campaign in support of the park.
Some of the service budget is being siphoned off to comply with one of President Bush's new mandates, the Competitive Sourcing Initiative. This requires federal agencies to review staff positions to see if private contractors can perform them more economically.[6]
Further, compounding the issue is the cost of new demands such as increased security in the icon and border national parks. The current 2004 budget also directly funds only one-fourth of the mandatory cost-of-living pay raises for park employees, forcing park officials to divert $26.7 million from other operations to compensate for the underfunding.[7]
In an e-mail survey last November by the Campaign to Protect America's Lands, 46 percent of 1,361 park employees who participated said they thought the Park Service's maintenance backlog had worsened in recent years. Ten percent thought it had gotten better.[8] Employees are frustrated by such accidents as the leak of about 10,000 gallons of raw sewage from a broken pipe in Yellowstone National Park.[9]
The shortfall has led to park officials' increasingly soliciting funds from private individuals, organizations and foundations.
The Park Service currently maintains 16,000 permanent structures, 8,000 miles of roads, 1,500 bridges, 5,385 housing units, about 1,500 water and wastewater systems, 200 radio systems, more than 400 dams, and more than 200 solid waste operations.[10]
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SOURCES:
[1] "Confusion Reigns in Maintenance Programs for Park System," New York Times, Jul. 13, 2003.
[2] "Mixed Grades on National Parks," New York Times, July 19, 2003.
[3] "Treading water," Arizona Daily Star, Nov. 12, 2003.
[4] "Major Management Challenges and Program Risks-Department of the Interior," Government Accounting Office Report, Jan. 17, 2001.
[5] Ibid.
[6] "Treading Water."
[7] Ibid.
[8] "Morale is Low Among Workers in National Parks, Survey Finds," Fresno Bee, Nov. 14, 2003.
[9] "National Briefing Rockies: Wyoming: Yellowstone Sewage Leak," New York Times, Jun. 9, 2001.
[10] GAO Report.
