WASHINGTON—Under President Dwight D. Eisenhower, the nation prepared for the 50th birthday of the National Park Service with a spending splurge that refurbished Independence Hall in Philadelphia and helped complete the Gateway Arch in St. Louis and the 469-mile Blue Ridge Parkway. Next year, the world-famous system turns 100 and the celebration will be far more modest.
The Obama administration and Republican lawmakers have vastly different ideas about what to do.
Both parties agree that the country’s national parks and historic sites could use some sprucing up. Their shared goal is to use the centennial to improve trails, visitor centers, campgrounds and other park features that need maintenance work.
The question is how much of a dent Congress will make in a system-wide maintenance backlog with an estimated $11.5 billion price tag.
President Barack Obama has recommended spending an additional $1.5 billion on the parks over a three-year period. Republican leaders in Congress have a smaller birthday present in mind.
Just the fact they are open to greater investment, though, is being viewed as a promising first step by some Democrats.
Areas of agreement include lifting the price of the $10 lifetime park pass for seniors to $80 and enacting a lodging tax for those who stay overnight, though how much and whether it should apply to campers as well as hotel guests, will have to be worked out in the months ahead.
The administration and lawmakers are also looking to use some of the additional federal dollars to leverage private-sector donations and endowments.
Lawmakers go into the debate with different views on why the parks system is failing to keep up with basic maintenance. Republicans point to Congress’s appetite for adding new units to the parks system, diluting the pot of federal dollars into ever-smaller slices.
“It’s fun and sexy to add a new unit to the Park Service. It’s not fun or sexy to talk about fixing a sewer system,” said Rep. Rob Bishop, the Republican chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee.
Democrats say Congress has simply failed to make the national parks a priority. The budget over the past five years has been largely flat, increasing from $3.16 billion to $3.24 billion, though Congress did just boost spending by more than $200 million in this year’s budget.
Complaints about the backlog extend decades. For instance, President George W. Bush noted during a 2001 speech at Everglades National Park that “many parks lack the resources they need for basic care and maintenance.” He promised to restore and renew America’s national parks. At the time, the maintenance backlog stood at about $5.5 billion. The September 11 terror attacks would soon upend the nation’s spending priorities though.
