An Uncertain Future for Our National Parks?

Every minute I’ve spent in our national parks has made a lasting impact on my life. I’ll never forget the look on my grandchildren’s little faces the first time they watched Old Faithful erupt. As we stood in the same spot I had years before, witnessing the same extraordinary sight, I was reminded how precious time is and how precious our national parks are.

Our parks are rich with awe-inspiring landscapes, amazing wildlife and important stories of our nation’s past. And they give us memories that last a lifetime. We owe it to ourselves, and to our children and grandchildren, to protect them now so that others will have the chance to experience them just as we have. And our national parks need us now more than ever before.

Imagine cutting your home maintenance budget by more than a third. … Our parks need more help.

Budget cuts, staffing decreases and a growing backlog of repair needs have plagued parks for decades. On top of these chronic funding issues, climate change is putting everything we know and love about our national parks at risk — from record- shattering heat in California’s Death Valley National Park to this year’s extensive winter storm damage along historic trails, roads and streams at Acadia National Park.

National parks belong to all of us. That means we all have a responsibility to care for these places — including our elected officials.

Since 1916, the federal government has been entrusted with the care of our national parks. Not only is our government in the best position to preserve these lands, but they also have the power and means to invest in them. But those investments haven’t been enough, especially with national parks’ growing popularity. Since 2010, park staffing has eroded by 20%, while parks have experienced a 16% increase in visitation.

The additional funding cuts included in the most recent spending bill passed by the House of Representatives would only make matters worse, leading to even fewer staff and resources. And these proposed cuts come on the heels of Congress’s decision to slash more than $46 million (a 36% cut) from the national parks’ fiscal year 2024 budget for large repair projects, undermining real progress being made to tackle critical park maintenance needs across the country.

Imagine cutting your home maintenance budget by more than a third. Cuts of that magnitude could force you to delay repairs like a leak in your roof, which over time could easily turn into a much larger, more costly roof replacement.

Much like a home, repair needs at parks can quickly escalate if unaddressed. The backlog of repair needs in our national parks has reached $23 billion. This includes hundreds of critical repair projects at parks across the country to fix crumbling roads, worn-out trails, decaying buildings and other maintenance issues.

Congress passed the Great American Outdoor Act four years ago, providing five years of funding to address the billions of dollars in repair needs in national parks across the country. The funding made it possible to fix damaged trails at Mammoth Cave National Park, replace a failing water system at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, and enhance campgrounds at Rocky Mountain National Park, among other projects. Through 2025, this funding will continue to address critical repair projects and improve visitor experiences in parks, but it’s clear that our parks need more help.

We can’t possibly expect parks to tackle this enormous, decades-long problem with one down payment and a five-year timeline. And taking away more than a third of parks’ other funds designed to address major repair needs is devastating to an agency with already limited resources. We should be investing more in parks, not less.

While I feel extreme pride for our parks, I also cannot help but feel troubled by their uncertain future with the numerous challenges they face. Thankfully, we still have time to turn the tide. Congress is often bitterly at odds, but our national parks have been one of the few issues to unify lawmakers from both sides of the aisle — as the Great American Outdoors Act did four years ago. We need them to stand together again, so we can leave a legacy that our parks deserve.

There are actions Congress can take right now to reinvest in our parks:

• Extend the Great American Outdoors Act’s national park maintenance fund by providing at least five more years of needed investment to fix our parks
• Increase operations funding for the Park Service to bring back staff to parks across the country and provide critical resources needed to protect our parks and grow programs for visitors and families.

I’m proud to be one of the many people fighting for our national parks. And I hope you will stand with us as we urge Congress to act and ensure these places can thrive for generations to come.