“The budget crisis in our national parks is real and it will be felt keenly by park visitors this summer,” said Wade, former superintendent at Shenandoah National Park.
Late last week, he and 515 other National Park Service retirees released a report highlighting what visitors might expect this summer - less law enforcement, less emergency response, more litter.
Combined, they have about 15,000 years of experience managing the nation's parks.
Calling themselves the Coalition of National Park Service Retirees, the men and women have captured lots of attention in places that matter, bringing their political clout to bear on what they say is the increasingly sad state of affairs in national parks.
Recently, Wade said, the Park Service mounted its summer promotional campaign, called “National Parks: The Place to be for Family Fun in 2006.”
The retirees responded last week with “Reality Check: What Visitors to America's National Parks Will Experience During Summer 2006.”
“It's been our position that the public needs to know the truth,” Wade said.
The truth?
“They need to know about the trend of deterioration in the Park Service's ability to carry out its mission.”
The problem with the government ad campaign, the retirees said, is that it “makes no reference to budget-related problems in terms of visitor safety, reduced emergency response capabilities, service cuts, at-risk natural resources and crumbling facilities.”
No mention that Glacier National Park is home to a bull trout population that has crashed by 90 percent, but has no fisheries biologist. No mention of the 1,200 known infestations of noxious weeds inside Glacier's boundaries. No mention that just 30 of Glacier's 297 historic buildings are maintained well enough to rank in “good” condition.
No mention that, down in Montana's other corner, Yellowstone National Park - a park operating with an annual budget deficit estimated at $20 million - has 121 geothermal wonders, but only one geologist. No mention that between 1987 and 1996, while Yellowstone's visitation increased by 32 percent, the number of seasonal rangers there decreased by the same amount.
The coalition of retirees peeked behind the curtain of natural and cultural marvels at 37 national parks, finding what they call “widespread evidence of major problems that will be evident this summer - including decreased safety for visitors, longer emergency response times, endangerment of protected resources, and dirtier and less well-maintained parks.”
Even more troubling, they said, “the problems will only grow worse in the coming years.”
Nationwide, Wade said, the parks operate with an annual funding deficit of at least $600 million and carry a burdensome maintenance backlog of about $7 billion.
In Alaska's Denali National Park, budget cuts are translating into reductions in both law enforcement and emergency response staff, despite the fact that ambulance runs went up 38 percent last year.
It's a similar story out on the Washington coast, where visitors to Olympic National Park can expect longer law enforcement response times. Staff levels there are down 25 positions from three years ago.
In Glacier Park, three campgrounds that have always provided running water - Logging, Quartz and Cut Bank - will run dry this year, the flow pinched in response to equally pinched budgets. All three are small and off-the-beaten trail, with aging water supply systems, factors spokeswoman Melissa Wilson said contributed to the decision to reduce services. There won't be trash pickup there anymore, either.
“Another thing we see happening is a real tightening of visitor services, especially in the shoulder seasons,” said Steve Thompson.
Thompson keeps an eye on Glacier for the National Parks Conservation Association, a watchdog group that operates across the nation. In Glacier, he said, summer is predictably jammed up, with campgrounds maxed and parking strained beyond its limits at popular sites.
Local tourism officials have been promoting the shoulder seasons of spring and fall, Thompson said, but the park no longer has the money to maintain a full complement of rangers and seasonal staff during those peripheral months.
Recently, Thompson said, he received a call from folks at the Glacier Institute, an educational outfit operating in the park. Seems their building - owned by the Park Service - is literally falling over.
That they called NPCA instead of park brass, he said, is an indication that “the government just doesn't have the resources to deal with it.”
Workers swinging hammers in Glacier Park have been told there may not even be a historic preservation crew next year, despite a long backlog of maintenance needed at hundreds of historic buildings.
It's nothing new. A 2003 report showed Glacier in need of 64 full-time law enforcement officers. That year, the park had just 36.
Many other divisions within the park also are not staffed as heavily as they might be. “We are very careful about how we spend our money,” Wilson said.
If an employee leaves the park, staffers review the open position, asking: “Is it necessary? Is it neccessary year-round? Can it be job-shared?”
By allowing posts to remain vacant, Wilson said, the park has saved $109,000 in recent years.
According to Wilson, Glacier's budget has been increasing each year recently, but those increases have not kept up with costs. Wilson said the park is losing about 6.6 percent in purchasing power annually.
“The increases just haven't been enough to keep up,” she said.
In the backcountry, patrols have been thinner. No longer do rangers lead multi-day hikes through Glacier. Nor do they ride the rails between East Glacier and West Glacier to talk to travelers about the park.
In addition, Thompson said, “We're not making any progress with basic science in the park. In fact, we're slipping backward on some of that.”
Fuel costs are going up, construction costs are going up, inflation is going up, the price of living is going up, but budgets just aren't keeping up, critics said.
“The tendency of the past few years has been to minimize these sorts of problems and to focus on the happy talk,” Wade said.
The government's current ad campaign is unfolding even as a White House proposal to cut another $100 million from Park Service budgets works its way through the system. That unadvertised plan isn't likely to help matters, Thompson said, not when “the annual funding shortfall in Glacier is approaching $7 million - and that number comes straight from the Park Service.”
If approved, the Bush administration's goal of cutting an additional $100 million would result in a 4.5 percent decrease in the Park Service budget, from $2.3 billion to $2.2 billion.
In the past, Thompson said, Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont., has been instrumental in staving off deeper cuts, and has even helped win additional money in recent years. But following a May 24 meeting with the senator, Thompson said, the conclusion was that Burns will “do what he can, but the basic feeling in Congress is that there are higher priorities. He only has so much to work with.”
“Priorities,” in fact, are exactly what Wade thinks this is all about.
“The American people will set the priority,” Wade said. “They have to decide what will be possible relative to our parks.”
His group will provide the information detailing park budgets and staffing, he said, but then voters will have to choose what, if anything, to do with that information.
“Our intention here is not to be alarmist,” Wade said, “but to ensure that American citizens and lawmakers know the facts. Forget about cutting the flesh or any ‘fat.' We are now cutting deeply into the sinews and bones of our national parks.”
Congress needs to appropriate adequate funds, Wade said, because too often private groups are being asked to pay for public services. That means donors are building basic infrastructure and purchasing life-safety equipment, new realities that leave some philanthropists frustrated that they're supplying the margin of survival, rather than the margin of excellence.
“The sad fact is that these days friends-of-the-parks groups are being called upon to provide funding for regular operational needs.” Wade said. “The line has been crossed.”
Other times, Wade said, it's corporate donors coming forward with cash for public projects, “but that process always comes with a quid pro quo. People always want something for their money.”
Recent budget hikes from Congress have been welcome, he said, but “have only succeeded in bringing some parks out of the depths of the financial abyss, and back to its brink.”
Problem is, any money saved now will only come due later - with interest - warned Bill Supernaugh.
Supernaugh, like Wade, is a former park superintendent, until last fall top boss at Badlands National Park.
“Unfortunately,” he said, “today's preventative maintenance deferral turns into tomorrow's increase in the already multibillion-dollar NPS maintenance backlog.”
Look no further than Yellowstone, where managers have said they could save tremendous amounts of money currently spent on road reconstruction, if only they had the cash to adequately maintain roads year-to-year.
“We're pragmatic enough to realize there are other things out there sucking up a lot of money,” Supernaugh said. “We certainly don't expect an immediate sea change.”
What he hopes for, rather, is a gentle awakening, an eye opening that, over time, results in a groundswell of support for America's historically popular parks.
“What we're really trying to do is keep the pressure up,” he said, “and promote the awareness that our parks are tremendously underfunded.”
If people don't forget that message, he said, then perhaps lost funding can be returned once fiscal priorities allow. Perhaps, he said, the Park Service centennial in 2016 will provide the impetus to once again fully fund the parks.
“We'll keep it on the front burner until then,” Supernaugh said. “That's all we can do.”
Reporter Michael Jamison can be reached at 1-800-366-7186 or at mjamison@missoulian.com.
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