Maintenance backlog at national parks could fuel budget cuts

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. – Visitation to national parks, monuments and other sites managed by the National Park Service increased in 2016, but the parks’ popularity has led to $11.9 billion in deferred maintenance needs.

The Arizona Daily Sun reports (http://bit.ly/2oNAT4n ) that 330 million people visited NPS sites nationwide last year. But conservation groups worry that the maintenance backlog — $371 million at Grand Canyon National Park alone — could be used as an argument to increase privatization of national parks and as a reason to defund other Interior Department programs.

President Donald Trump’s latest budget proposal includes a 12 per cent cut to the Department of the Interior. It justifies eliminating $120 million used to fund federal lands acquisition by saying the money will instead go toward maintaining existing national parks and other lands.

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Information from: Arizona Daily Sun, http://www.azdailysun.com/