Back
To News/PR Index
|
Deferred
Maintenance on National Park Properties Reaches $11.49 Billion
|
Centennial
Budget Request Seeks to Address Critical Needs
|
Washington,
DC – March 2015 / Newsmaker Alert / The
National
Park Service this week released its fiscal year 2014 deferred maintenance
statistics for national parks. The $11.49 billion nationwide total was
up from the $11.3 billion reported at the end of FY2013.
Deferred
maintenance is necessary work on infrastructure such as roads and bridges,
visitor centers, trails, and campgrounds that has been put off for more
than a year. Aging facilities, increasing use of park facilities and scarce
resources contribute to the growing backlog.
National
Park Service Director Jonathan B. Jarvis said the bureau’s FY2016 budget
request before Congress includes a major effort to reduce the maintenance
backlog for the National Park Service’s centennial in 2016.
“If
funded, the National Park Service’s 2016 budget request will allow us to
restore our highest priority non-transportation assets to good condition,”
Jarvis said. “As we invite more Americans to discover the special places
in the National Park System during our centennial celebration, we need
to have facilities that can accommodate them and provide the best possible
visitor experience.”
Park
roads and bridges account for about half of the maintenance backlog. The
National Park Service receives some funding for these projects through
the Federal Lands Transportation Program in the surface transportation
bill. Those funds are set to expire in May.
President
Obama’s proposal for the transportation bill, now under consideration in
Congress, includes $150 million in new funding for nationally significant
projects. The money would be awarded competitively for major transportation
projects on federal and tribal lands.
“President
Obama’s proposal for these major projects could address some of the National
Park Service’s large, and critical, deferred transportation projects,”
said Director Jarvis. “Completing those projects would pave the way for
many of the hundreds of millions of visitors that come to national parks
each year.”
The
National Park Service’s budget request for non-transportation assets includes
an increase of $242.8 million across operations and construction accounts,
in combination with a mandatory proposal to provide $300 million annually
over three years, to restore highest priority non-transportation assets
to good condition over 10 years and to maintain that infrastructure in
good condition.
Deferred
maintenance figures by type, park and state are available at go.nps.gov/deferredmaint.
About
the National Park Service
More
than 20,000 National Park Service employees care for America's 407 national
parks and work with communities across the nation to help preserve local
history and create close-to-home recreational opportunities. Visit us at
www.nps.gov,
on Facebook www.facebook.com/nationalparkservice,
Twitter www.twitter.com/natlparkservice,
and YouTube www.youtube.com/nationalparkservice.
Media
Contact:
April
Slayton, (NPS)
202-208-6843 |