President Trump's budget proposal for Fiscal 2021, which almost certainly will be ignored by Congress, calls for a 17 percent cut in funding for the National Park Service as well as a workforce reduction of nearly 1,000, according to the National Parks Conservation Association.
“This budget is nothing short of insulting," NPCA President and CEO Theresa Pierno said Monday evening. "Every American should be offended by how little the Trump administration has prioritized our national parks and public lands.
"Once again, the president’s proposed budget targets nearly every segment of our environment, from the air we breathe to the water we drink, cutting millions of dollars from the EPA, the agency charged with protecting human health and our environment, as well as eliminating critical funding for programs that protect our nation’s waterways, such as the Chesapeake Bay," she said.
With the key appropriation positions in Congress held by Democrats, the president's budget, which proposes a $2.8 billion budget for the Park Service, is certain to be ignored. That dollar figure is down from the current Park Service appropriation of $3.4 billion.
While administration officials cheered the proposal, it's full of cuts for the Park Service, according to NPCA.
“He’s proposing a 17 percent (budget) cut and a cut of 952 staff" for the Park Service, said John Garder, the fiscal analyst for the park advocacy group.
Garder said the president also wants to cut $191 million from the Park Service's construction accounts -- down from the $389 million currently provided by Congress -- which help attack the agency's estimated $12 billion maintenance backlog.
While the administration failed to target budget increases to help with the maintenance backlog, they beseeched Congress to provide funding to make substantial inroads into the backlog.
“We are extremely appreciative of today’s proposal to once again include the creation of the Public Lands Infrastructure Fund, and we remain optimistic that Congress will finally address the tremendous backlog caused by insufficient funds to appropriately maintain our national parks, our Indian schools and Fish and Wildlife Service and Bureau of Land Management facilities,” said Interior Secretary David Bernhardt. "The Trump administration is committed to addressing our crumbling park infrastructure, and it’s time for Congress to act."
The infrastructure fund was included in President Trump's FY20 budget proposal, as well, and Vice President Pence lobbied for the fund during a visit to Yellowstone National Park last summer.
As envisioned, the fund would be tapped to address deferred maintenance not just in the National Park System, but also on wildlife refuges, U.S. Bureau of Land Management properties, and national forests. It would draw revenues from federal energy leases and royalty payments (all forms of energy, solar, wind, coal, oil, gas, biomass, geothermal, etc.) to pay for maintenance projects.
Against the administration's cheerful view of the budget -- "President Trump’s budget supports our ongoing efforts to rebuild, restore, and reinvigorate park facilities and infrastructure for this and future generations,” said National Park Service Deputy Director David Vela. “The president’s request provides funding to modernize our aging facilities, increase accessibility to our public lands for all visitors, and improve our resilience and response to fires and natural disasters.”-- NPCA ticked off a list of cuts that greatly threaten public lands managed by the federal government.
* The Land and Water Conservation Fund, which helps pay for improvements to the country's recreational lands, would be gutted;
* The National Heritage Area program, which helps fund historic preservation and interpretation, would be zeroed out;
* $83 million would be cut from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, some of which supports endangered species programs;
* Funding for cleaning up the Chesapeake Bay Program would be cut by 91 percent by the president;
* The Environmental Protection Agency's budget would be cut by $2.4 billion, or 26 percent.
“In a matter of weeks, the administration has dismantled some of our nation’s most fundamental environmental laws that protect clean water and air," Pierno said. "All while blatantly ignoring the impacts of climate change on our public lands and bulldozing and blowing up a national park and sacred sites to build an unnecessary wall. This budget is yet another example of the lack of understanding and respect this administration has for the significance of our parks and public lands.
“If Congress cares about the future of our national parks and public lands, this proposed budget should be a nonstarter.”
Comments
I am as disappointed as anyone with the propsed reduction in the NPS budget. But I also understand the economic and political aspects of putting a budget together. The fact is, our deficts and debt are out of control and this pattern cannot be sustained. I have consitently expressed this criticism for most my voting years up to and including the Trump administration. His willingness to go along with the last couple of budgets is appalling - far more appalling than any tweet. But for the Fed keeping interest rates artificially low our debt service alone would nearly overwhelm our ability to pay.
We need to cut spending - dramatically. We should do so by shutting down the operations of the Fed government that weren't authorized by the Consitution. Unfortunately, most of the non(un)Constitional activities are favorites of the entitlement/control crowd. While the parks may be revered by the public, they are at the bottom of list when it comes to voting priorities. When was the last time you heard the National Parks mentioned in a Presidential debate? As has been noted here, less than 1/2 of the population makes it outdoors much less to a Park. Everytime a park entrance fee goes up the public howls. They love their Parks, they just aren't willing to pay for them. Even NPT's survey indicated that (i believe the number was 87%) of its readers would not even spend a dime to support NPT's efforts. This is from those that we would expect are most supportive of the Parks.
If you want the Parks to get more money (a designated power granted by the Constitution) you need to work to stop the nonConstituional expenses from crowding the Parks out. Congress is not going to do that on its own. If you think it is bad now, think about what 10s of Trillions of dollars from universal healthcare, free college, student debt forgiveness and open boarders will cost.
What non-constitutional expenses do you mean?
Could you reference a few?
People just do not realize the amount of money that parks create in ecoturism, It is a huge amount of dollars thaat is important to the gateway cities and other businesses
Everything needs to be cut, People hollar about spending and the debt, but then hollar when adjustments are made to bring both under controlfinancially!? Managers are put to work to make budgets work in private sectors, why shoudn't government managers be expectedto do less? My family lives on a budget supported by my families income, for government to do less is just plain dumb. Managers, either do your job or quit and let capable people in that care about waste and duplication abuse show you how to meet the budgets proposal.
Then WHY do they need funding?
We must fund the National Park Service and other agencies that maintain and protect our beautiful American spaces. We must strive to protect our cultural and historic sites as well.
Please supply the funds to preserve these resources of our great nation.
Sure Kid- Department of Education, Department of Energy, EPA, Social Security, Obamacare ..... None of those are designated powers in the Constitution.
There are no programs within the constitution-only rights to citizens. ECBuck needs to go back to school for Givernment 101.