Group: National parks need money

By JIM MANN

The Daily Inter Lake

Yellowstone and Glacier national parks are economic engines for the state of Montana, but a national parks advocacy group says basic maintenance and operations funding have been neglected for decades.

The National Parks Conservation Association released a report this week outlining the economic role of the parks and the benefits they have provided to surrounding communities.

But it also points out areas of funding neglect at both parks.

In an interview Wednesday, association supporters and staffers said Yellowstone, Glacier and other national parks have been increasingly relying on higher entrance fees and nonprofit organizations to pay for basic maintenance and operations that Congress should be paying for.

I do think we have some local and state economic advantages from these parks, but I also think we are not asking our senators to do enough to maintain and operate them, said Susie Burch, co-owner of Glacier Boat Co. who has chaired the Kalispell Chamber of Commerce.

Burch said the federal government made a commitment to provide adequate maintenance and operational funding when the parks were established. And for decades, she said, the government hasnt lived up to that commitment.

The associations report says both Yellowstone and Glacier have crumbling roads and buildings, and both have inadequate staffing in important operations.

While Glacier recently received an appropriation of $50 million for rebuilding the alpine portion of Going-to-the-Sun Road, Burch says that can be viewed as evidence of how long the roads maintenance was neglected. The full cost of that project is expected to be as high as $170 million, with the balance of funding expected to come through from the National Park Services road program over the next six to eight years.

Thats a perfect example of how far weve fallen behind, she said. The huge amount that is earmarked for Sun Road isnt enough to finish what needs to be done.

Yellowstone has multiple outdated sewage treatment systems, including one in the Madison area that was built in the 1950s and designed to operate for just 25 years.

Steve Caldwell, a Livingston business consultant and Yellowstone Park advocate, says deferring basic maintenance often results in far more expensive overhaul projects.

Neither park has staff archaeologists, the association pointed out, and Yellowstone does not adequately fund monitoring and research of wolf populations in the park, leaving those duties to nonprofit organizations.

Burch said that in Glacier, basic trail and building maintenance is often carried out or paid for by nonprofit groups such as the Glacier Fund or Glacier Park Associates.

Burch and Caldwell say there are fewer interpretive rangers at both parks, particularly during the spring and fall shoulder seasons.

The parks have turned to higher fees as a means of paying for operational expenses, raising concerns for Caldwell.

You start looking to entrance fees as a means to pay for a public resource, and I think thats a very slippery slope, he said. Park visitors are willing to pay their fair share, but entrance fees should not be a barrier to Americans enjoying the national parks.

Tim Stevens, the NPCAs Yellowstone field representative, said no increase in fees is going to make up for the multibillion-dollar maintenance backlog in our national parks.

The association made park funding its top issue in recent years. The report on Glacier and Yellowstone says the national park system operates with a shortfall of over $600 million, leaving parks unable to meet basic standards and legal mandates. Beyond these annual funding shortfalls, the parks face a mounting backlog of deferred maintenance and construction. In March 2005, the Congressional Research Service estimated this backlog at between $4.5 billion and $9.7 billion.

The report points out how gateway communities to national parks, such as cities in Gallatin and Flathead counties, have economic growth that by far exceeds growth in other non-park peer communities of similar size.

Bozeman and Kalispell were ranked among the top 10 small U.S. cities for small business in 2005 by the American City Business Journal.

At the same time as Montanas parks are growing in economic importance, the ramification of decades of underfunded daily operations and deferred investment in park assets are beginning to hit home, the report says.

Reporter Jim Mann may be reached at 758-4407 or by e-mail at jmann@dailyinterlake.com