Warner, Kaine urge action on national parks maintenance backlog

U.S. Sens. Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine are urging congressional leaders to increase funding to address the maintenance backlog facing the country’s national parks.

“With a nearly $6 billion maintenance backlog attributable to the type of repair, rehabilitation and cyclic maintenance projects that receive funding through the Interior appropriations bill, it is imperative that the noteworthy increases provided last year be sustained or increased,” wrote the Senators in a letter to congressional appropriators. “It is crucial that national park facilities be kept safe and accessible so they may continue to welcome and educate the millions of American and international visitors who pass through their gates each year.”

Deferred maintenance is necessary work – performed on infrastructure, such as visitor centers, rest stops, trails and campgrounds – that has been delayed for more than one year. There is a nearly $6 billion non-transportation maintenance backlog at the National Park Service as a result of aging facilities, increasing use of park facilities, and years of underfunding.

Last year the National Park Service (NPS) was forced to defer $163 million in non-transportation maintenance projects at its sites in Virginia, including Appomattox Court House National Historical Park, Assateague Island, Booker T. Washington National Monument, Cedar Creek and Belle Grove National Historical Park, Cumberland Gap National Historical Park, Fort Monroe National Monument, Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania Battlefields Memorial National Military Park, George Washington Birthplace National Monument, Maggie L. Walker National Historic Site, Manassas National Battlefield Park, Petersburg National Battlefield, Richmond National Battlefield Park, Shenandoah National Park, and Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts.

National Park Non-Roads Deferred Maintenance in FY15*

*Non-transportation assets include buildings, housing, trails, campgrounds, unpaved roads, utility systems, dams, constructed waterways, marinas, aviation systems, railroads, ships, monuments, fortifications, towers, interpretive media and amphitheaters.​ In cases of multi-state parks, these figures reflect deferred maintenance on assets located solely in the Commonwealth of Virginia.