Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
By DOUG ALDEN
Associated Press Writer
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Like their colleagues across the nation, managers of Utah's five national parks are having to find ways to do more with less.
But they say effects of a tighter federal budget, which doesn't show signs of shifting more funding toward preserving and maintaining the areas set aside for natural beauty or historical significance, will not impair visitors' experiences at the parks this summer.
"There's no doubt about it -- in recent years inflation has taken its toll. We can't do as much with the money we have, but we're close," said Al Hendricks, superintendent of Capitol Reef National Park in southern Utah. "We haven't suffered too much."
Capitol Reef is sometimes overshadowed by Utah's other national parks -- Zion, Arches, Canyonlands and Bryce Canyon -- but has the same budget pressures. Hendricks has a staff of about 25 permanent employees with 12 more seasonal workers.
He'd like more, but who wouldn't?
At Zion, about eight jobs are vacant and in limbo, with no timetable on when they could be filled again, public information officer Ron Terry said.
There are still about 200 workers -- about half of which are seasonal -- to keep up the 229 square miles of towering cliffs and rugged canyons for an anticipated 2.6 million visitors this summer.
"We're finding that most everything we're currently doing is core to the mission. In order to keep doing those things, staffing is going to be the issue," Terry said. "While the budget in dollars shows an increase, there is erosion in what those dollars will purchase."
As in nearly every park, Zion has a list of backlogged projects that have no funding. Replacing outdated restrooms and repairing trailheads and boundary fences are on the pending list and will probably be for a while.
Zion has proposed a $5 increase in the entrance fees -- currently $20 for a noncommercial vehicle -- which could add about $300,000 to the maintenance fund if approved before the 2007 season, Terry said.
As one of Utah's most popular destinations, Zion can make the slight increase add up. But other areas in the state don't have that as an option.
At Dinosaur National Monument, the 49-year-old visitor center, east of Vernal, is literally falling apart. It was built on gummy, clay soil, which swells and contracts and the building changes shape with the underground shifts.
Stopgap repairs have kept the building safe for visitors, but the cracks in the walls aren't getting any smaller. And minimal increases in federal funding aren't enough to rebuild.
"It's this gradual but discernible loss of buying power -- you keep putting off those kind of projects," said Ron Tipton, vice president for programs with the National Parks Conservation Association.
The independent park advocacy group is adding a regional office in Salt Lake City this summer, in partnership with the Grand Canyon Trust, a nonprofit conservation organization.
Unlike some national parks in more heavily populated regions, development and sprawl aren't big issues for the ones in Utah. The land is rugged and remote and not really suitable for subdivisions or strip malls.
Tipton said Utah's parks have actually done pretty well in keeping up with visitor services. But managing problems such as invasive species and protecting archaeological sites aren't getting the attention they need, he said.
A report released last week by the Coalition of National Park Service Retirees listed concerns including safety, longer emergency response times and threatened protected resources in addition to deferred maintenance at parks around the country.
Shuffling significant money from a budget that already has to cover the war in Iraq and relief from last fall's devastating hurricanes isn't going to happen.
But Bill Supernaugh, an NPS employee for nearly 38 years and former superintendent of Badlands National Park in South Dakota, hopes visitors will push members of Congress to keep up the funding. He said if visitors notice slightly less upkeep in the parks this summer, they can blame the budget.
"In today's environment, it will be an uphill battle, but we would be remiss if we didn't make the effort," Supernaugh said. "We want to keep people aware of what they have and what they eventually might lose."
At Capitol Reef, Hendricks is expecting a typical summer. He said the scenic drive fee is staying put at $5, which visitors can leave at a self-serve entrance.
Hendricks is awaiting his new chief ranger, a position that opened last fall because of a retirement.
Capitol Reef could use a larger visitor center and Hendricks has a pending request, but right now that kind of project isn't on the horizon.
"There's always the opportunity to do more, but I think we have been successful in maintaining our facilities," he said. "I recognize that the real judge of that is asking the people who come here."
------
On the Net:
www.nps.gov/care/
www.nps.gov/zion/
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
