Once again, Congress is going after trivial parts of the federal budget as part of the process of averting a government shutdown. Sometimes Congress targets the National Park Service budget for cuts, even though national parks and monuments greatly benefit local economies and are extremely popular with Americans across the ideological spectrum. The NPS budget is a minuscule portion of the federal budget.
The House and Senate arrived at a budget compromise on March 8th that would, among other things, cut $150 million from the National Park Service budget. These cuts continue a long trend in downward spending on our parks on the part of Congress and leave many parks with minimal staffing and closed facilities. These cuts will directly affect the Valles Caldera and Bandelier National Monument. Both these parks face staffing shortages and deteriorating facilities with inadequate funds.
Since $150 million is a copper pocket change in the federal budget, the drive to cut the Park Service must be ideologically driven. It’s no secret that conservatives don’t support public lands generally, and with extreme conservatives controlling the agenda in the House of Representatives, they are the source of these cuts. Perhaps democrats talked them down from much deeper cuts to the Park Service. Conservatives have promised to slash virtually all green energy and environmental protection spending if they get more control of government in 2024. They have also said they would eliminate infrastructure spending from the Inflation Reduction Act, part of which invests in national park facilities. These ideas come from the Heritage Foundation which has drifted toward the extremes in the era of Trump populism.
Nationally the NPS has 3000 vacant positions that they don’t have the funds to fill. These are critical positions like law enforcement, public education, and facility maintenance. At the same time, federal employees were granted a much-needed pay raise at 5.2% last year. The pay raises come out of existing NPS funds, which probably means laying off employees to increase the pay of those retained.
The national parks are more popular than ever before. System-wide the NPS sites had 312 million visitors in 2022, up 5% from the year before and that trend continued in 2023. But rather than serve the Americans that seek out national parks, Congress cuts their services, degrades their experiences, and puts the parks and their wildlife at risk with inadequate protections. Big parks like Yellowstone are overwhelmed by crowds and the NPS does not have the staff or tools to manage the people.
Those who care about national parks need to develop a new mechanism for funding the parks. Getting appropriations from Congress is not working as the budget continues to fall over time. The see-saw funding when administrations change from liberal to conservative frustrates NPS employees who live in a world of uncertainty. This is part of the low morale problem within the NPS.
Some people have suggested that creating an endowment for the NPS would be an alternative to Congress’ failure to fund the parks. The Smithsonian Institution, a system of museums in Washington, is funded by a perpetual endowment.
Also having all the fees collected at the parks stay in the park system would help as well. Today “surplus” fees go to the general treasury. The NPS could issue bonds as other government agencies do for maintenance needs. Your local government does this to fund road repairs.
The NPS charges minimal fees to concessionaires who operate hotels and stores in the parks. For example, the hotels on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon are owned by the American people but the NPS only charges the operators 5% for the privilege of making a profit and running these hotels. What if that fee were 15% so the NPS could get funding to run the park that brings people to the hotel or store.
Today the rules and budget making process conspire against the national parks. Given the popularity of the parks and the National Park Service, new legislation to reform NPS funding mechanisms from top to bottom would garner support from moderates and liberals. We need someone to take the lead in Congress and get this done before our parks become dilapidated and overrun.
Until we reform NPS funding, please write your Congresspersons, and urge them to increase the NPS budget substantially. Even an additional five billion dollars would not make a click of difference on the federal budget deficit but would allow the NPS to catch up on work backlogs and hire staff to protect the parks and their wildlife.
