Yosemite National Park
Sierra Sun Times file photo
May 10, 2022 - WASHINGTON - National parks are as popular as ever, with many of them experiencing record-breaking visitation. To better address and prioritize the current estimated $21.8 billion in deferred maintenance and repair needs, the National Park Service implemented a new and improved assessment process that provides a more complete and timely understanding of facility conditions and the cost to repair them.
The newly implemented condition assessment is more consistent with modern day industry standards, and it streamlines how the NPS evaluates and collects information providing a more complete understanding of deficiencies and repair needs nationwide.
Deferred maintenance and repairs is an estimate of how much it would cost to repair and restore deteriorating facilities to an acceptable and safe condition. The deferred maintenance and repairs backlog is created when routine maintenance and repairs are delayed because of limited resources. Through 2018, and unlike other bureaus within the Department of the Interior, the NPS only calculated the cost of construction in its deferred maintenance figures and did not include the full scope of construction-related costs like design and construction management except on transportation assets. The updated figure now accounts for this fuller and truer gross cost across all asset types.
Maintaining park infrastructure is a massive undertaking. The NPS maintains a complex portfolio of more than 75,000 assets from buildings, roads and bridges, to trails and campgrounds, and utilities like power and water and wastewater systems. The collective acreage of national parks at 85 million acres is larger than all but the four largest states and is enjoyed by more than 300 million visitors a year.
Tackling the extensive repair backlog, and addressing safety issues, enhancing accessibility, increasing energy efficiency, and incorporating new and sustainable technologies, is a priority to ensure the ongoing preservation of national parks and the accompanying opportunities for public recreation, education and enjoyment.
The Great American Outdoors Act, and other facility funding sources are part of a concerted effort to maintain, rehabilitate, repair or replace infrastructure in national parks. Each year from 2021 to 2025, the Great American Outdoors Act provides the National Park Service with up to up to $1.3 billion annually to fund deferred maintenance and repair projects.
Now that the review and development of the new condition assessment approach is complete, detailed fact sheets and information related to each park are available on the NPS website.
Source: NPS
