The sweeping views and alien-like rock formations of Utah’s national parks draw more visitors to the state every year, but without fixing crumbling roads and bridges, park advocates say, they won’t be able to support the tourists much longer.
“Impacts have increased, but the funding has gone down over the past 10 years or so,” said Joette Langianese, the executive director of the Friends of Canyonlands and Arches National Parks.
The Friends joined with the Western Energy Alliance last week in a campaign to raise funds for the park’s maintenance.
In a campaign they are calling “Parks in Wreck,” the alliance is hoping to raise $5,000 in the next month to give to the parks. That’s less than a tenth of a percent of what Canyonlands alone needs for their maintenance backlog, but the president of alliance, Kathleen Sgamma, says it’s not all about raising funds.
“Obviously that’s not a lot of money when you compare it to the $12 billion backlog of maintenance projects at National Parks," Sgamma said, "but the real goal is to raise awareness for the bill that would provide billions of dollars in funding to reduce that infrastructure backlog.”
The Restore Our Parks Act, introduced by Rob Bishop, a republican from Utah, already has more than 250 representatives in support. The bill would direct funds already being collected from the extractive energy companies leases on public land, and give them to National Parks to work on maintenance backlogs.
Sgamma says while the bill feels like it will pass quickly, “Congress’ dysfunction knows no bounds.”
