U.S. Parks ‘in Peril,’ Decaying, Jammed, Citizens Group Says

WASHINGTON — U.S. parks are threatened by an ever-increasing number of visitors, decaying facilities and growing “political manipulation,” with no sign that conditions will improve, a citizens watchdog group said Tuesday.

“Our national parks are in peril,” the National Parks and Conservation Assn. said in a report on some of the gravest concerns facing the federal park system.

Paul Pritchard, president of the association, said his group had hoped to show in its second annual assessment of the park system that improvements were being made.

“Instead, our research yielded far more losers than winners,” said Pritchard. “ . . . We have seen little more than stop-gap solutions. . . . Most of the problems have gotten much worse with no remedy in sight.”