Yellowstone Faces Annual Shortfall Of $25 Million
Yellowstone National Park has announced the results of a comprehensive financial analysis that reveals an annual funding shortfall of $25 million, more than a third shy of the money required to protect the park and meet the needs of nearly three million visitors.
“Yellowstone is a national gem that each year is becoming more and more tarnished,” said Tony Jewett, National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) northern Rockies senior regional director. “This new report provides concrete evidence of just how badly Yellowstone is underfunded and the impact of that insufficient funding on our first and most treasured national park.”
Yellowstone National Park participated in a six-year-old nationwide partnership between the National Park Service and NPCA to complete a financial analysis and write a business plan for park management.
The report finds that Yellowstone lacks about one third of the funds it needs as well as more than 200 employees.
The findings for Yellowstone are in line with NPCA’s position that on average, U.S. national parks are operating with only two-thirds of the needed funding. NPCA says the Park Service needs $600 million more annually to adequately manage the national park system.
The national park system also faces a maintenance backlog of some $4.9 billion.
“Yellowstone is being held together by dedicated, professional staff doing multiple jobs and working beyond maximum capacity,” Jewett said. “But there are costs to this Band-Aid approach and protection of America’s first national park is lapsing. Solutions must be found.”
Administration officials say funding for Yellowstone has increased under President George W. Bush and park infrastructure has been improved. They note that the United Nations recently removed Yellowstone from its list of World Heritage sites in danger, a move some conservationists believe was premature.
Yellowstone was designated as a national park in 1872–the world’s first. It has the world’s largest concentration of geysers and is known for its wildlife.
Provided by theEnvironmental News Service.
