America’s Best Idea, as Ken Burns dubbed it, is clearly not its greatest priority. The National Parks Service released estimates this week of the cost of deferred maintenance projects in national parks around the country, a tally that puts the nationwide cost at $11.49 billion. California’s portion of that is a staggering $1.7 billion.
By deferred maintenance, the park service means maintenance essential work that needs to be done to ensure access, safety and functionality of facilities such as roads, buildings, trails and campgrounds. The projects are referred to as “deferred,” because the maintenance was put off for at least a year due to lack of funding. The estimated in the report are what it cost raise facilities and related equipment to a condition that meets “accepted codes, laws and standards and to achieve service life expectancies.”
A number of parks in Southern California made the list, including:
- Cabrillo National Monument: $5,210,958
Death Valley National Park: $159,217,271
- Joshua Tree National Park: $83,193,814
- Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area: $7,909,895
Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park: $184,145,023
The California park with the largest backlog was Yosemite, which needs $ 552,778,696 in repairs, according to the report.
The National Park Service oversees 407 parks, monuments and other natural treasures. According to the report, the growing backlog is the result of “aging facilities, increasing use and insufficient funding.”
The cost estimates will be incorporated into President Barack Obama’s 2016 federal budget request, which will go to Congress for approval — or disapproval as the case may be.