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Tuesday, January 30th, 2018

This Land is Your Land Rotting cabins, closed trails: why we’re shining a light on US national parks

Author:     Alastair Gee
Source:     The Guardian (U.K.)
Publication Date:     29 Monday Jan 2018 | 06.00 EST
 Link: This Land is Your Land Rotting cabins, closed trails: why we’re shining a light on US national parks
Stephan:   This report in a British newspaper tells a story that has been obvious but unregarded  by American media, our national parks are literally sinking into crisis for lack of maintenance because of funding cuts. Here is the story, and I think it is telling us something important about ourselves.  

The Ingersoll Lodge after its collapse, at Voyageurs National Park.
Credit: National Park Service

At Zion national park, a popular trail has been closed since 2010. At the Grand Canyon, a rusting pipeline that supplies drinking water to the busiest part of the park breaks at least a half-dozen times a year. At Voyageurs, a historic cabin collapsed.

The National Park Service is the protector of some of America’s greatest environmental and cultural treasures. Yet a huge funding shortfall means that the strain of America’s passion for its parks is showing. Trails are crumbling and buildings are rotting. In all there is an $11bn backlog of maintenance work that repair crews have been unable to perform, a number that has mostly increased every year in the past decade.

“Americans should be deeply concerned,” said John Garder, senior director of budget and appropriations at the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA). The National Park Service, he argued, is hamstrung by a lack of resources and is in “triage mode”.

Today the Guardian is announcing a major expansion of This Land […]

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