Park Agency Chief Decries Proposed Cuts

The already troubled National Park Service would be gutted and Eastern historical sites jeopardized under proposed congressional cuts, the head of the agency said Saturday.

“There is a $6-billion backlog of rot and decay in the national park system which has accumulated because the American people think because they love the parks, somehow the parks are getting tended to. They’re not,” Park Service Director Roger Kennedy said.

Despite cutting more than 1,500 administrative positions in recent years, the Park Service and its 368 monuments and parks have become the target of Republican lawmakers, he said before speaking at Harpers Ferry National Historical Park to rally opposition to the cuts.

Congress has approved cutting $120 million from the agency’s annual $1.6-billion budget, which serves sites expected to draw more than 276 million people this year.

“Roofs are decaying, trails are falling apart, roads are unrepaired, sewer systems are out of repair,” Kennedy said. “You just have to take a trip to an average park to know that. On top of that, they’re saying: ‘Don’t fix anything. Just cut 10% out of what you have already been sweated down to.’ ”

The General Accounting Office reported in March that the Park Service faces a backlog of $4 billion in maintenance at parks and monuments, and suggested that it generate more revenue, cut visitor services or limit the number of parks.

Republicans have denied trying to gut the system and no one has suggested closing the likes of Yellowstone National Park or the Grand Canyon. But they argue that cutting sites of little national significance would ensure repairs to more important places.

Kennedy said such cuts would likely come at the expense of parks and monuments in the East because Western lawmakers dominate key oversight committees.