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https://rollcall.com/2023/10/03/maintenance-backlog-grows-at-national-parks-as-funding-tightens/
Absolute Failure of an Institution.

And I'm talking about our shithouse Congress, to be clear. I mean, yeah, it's a sizable chunk of change by any measure. Yet consider the federal government somehow managed to spend $6.27 trillion for FY2022, of which the NPS received a beyond laughable $3.6 billion while being expected to accommodate total visitation numbers for the year that exceeded 312 million people -- nearly the equivalent of the entire country's population.
That isn't budgetary "mismanagement", it flat out isn't remotely enough funding period. To make matters even more dire, the agency is woefully understaffed with park rangers being paid like fast food workers. By all accounts, the American public holds an overwhelmingly favorable view of both the NPS and its national parks, but public pressure to create any political will here is practically nonexistent. Are people indifferent or just ignorant and unaware?
(DM&R = Deferred Maintenance & Repairs)
Teddy Roosevelt told us to keep these national treasures.
Grand Teton, Wyoming (DM&R: $180 Million)

Grand Canyon, Arizona (DM&R: $829 Million)

Yellowstone, Wyoming (DM&R: $1.0 Billion)

Yosemite, California (DM&R: $1.1 Billion)

Absolute Failure of an Institution.

And I'm talking about our shithouse Congress, to be clear. I mean, yeah, it's a sizable chunk of change by any measure. Yet consider the federal government somehow managed to spend $6.27 trillion for FY2022, of which the NPS received a beyond laughable $3.6 billion while being expected to accommodate total visitation numbers for the year that exceeded 312 million people -- nearly the equivalent of the entire country's population.
That isn't budgetary "mismanagement", it flat out isn't remotely enough funding period. To make matters even more dire, the agency is woefully understaffed with park rangers being paid like fast food workers. By all accounts, the American public holds an overwhelmingly favorable view of both the NPS and its national parks, but public pressure to create any political will here is practically nonexistent. Are people indifferent or just ignorant and unaware?

(DM&R = Deferred Maintenance & Repairs)
Teddy Roosevelt told us to keep these national treasures.
Grand Teton, Wyoming (DM&R: $180 Million)

Grand Canyon, Arizona (DM&R: $829 Million)

Yellowstone, Wyoming (DM&R: $1.0 Billion)

Yosemite, California (DM&R: $1.1 Billion)

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