According to the Director of the National Park service:


"The NPS manages many of our nation’s most iconic and beloved landscapes and historic sites. We are responsible for managing more than 400 individual parks with more than 84 million acres of land, stretching from Acadia National Park in the State of Maine to the National Park of American Samoa in the South Pacific. The NPS also manages numerous wild and scenic rivers and national trails; programs that recognize our nation’s historic structures; and programs that help local governments and organizations provide recreational opportunities and protect open space. We are seeing record-breaking visitation -- more than 300 million last year -- and the resulting economic activity created by the parks topped $16 billion."

For the fiscal year that began Oct. 1, 2015, the park service’s budget amounts to $3.4 billion, which folds in $2.85 billion appropriated by Congress plus expected fee revenue.
The service has 22,000 employees.



As the National Park Service celebrates its 100th anniversary on Thursday, Americans should take a moment to consider how they can ensure the health of their national treasure for many generations to come.

Few federal agencies command more widespread support than the NPS. A 2015 Gallup poll found that 73% of Americans were satisfied with the government’s handling of national parks, despite their overall dissatisfaction with the federal government. There are now 84 million acres in the national-park system, including 59 national parks, 20 of which were added after 1980, and 353 national monuments, battlefields and historic sites. Every year Congress creates more parks, often referred to as “Park Barrel Politics.”

But, loved as they are, the national park systems and monuments aren’t being treated well. Adding more parks makes matters worse.

There is already a backlog of maintenance projects, including deteriorating roads, buildings and sewage systems, that will cost $12 billion to fix. Each year the NPS goes to Congress asking for funding for its operating budgets but almost always gets less than it requests. Between 2005 and 2015, the federal budget grew by 39%, yet the NPS operating budget increased by only 1.7%. Meanwhile, park attendance in 2015 reached a record 305 million visits.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/happy-100th-birthday-national-parks-1472076265


So, how would you deal with the budget challenges faced by the National Park Service?
Do you think we should even have a national park service?
And, if not, what would you replace it with.


 

Last edited by Goose (8/26/2016 7:31 am)