Park Service: US Trails, Campgrounds Need $11.5B In Improvements

By Steve Goldstein
Published: Tuesday, March 24, 2015 - 8:03am
(Photo by Peter O'Dowd - KJZZ)
Grand Canyon National Park.

The National Park Service says facilities, trails and campgrounds across the country need more than $11 billion of work to improve conditions.

On Monday, the Park Service released its fiscal 2014 deferred maintenance statistics that showed a total of $11.5 billion in work to be done. That’s up from $11.3 billion the previous year.

Arizona’s share of that figure is significant, with more than $516 million in deferred maintenance. The bulk of that would be devoted to Grand Canyon National Park which, according to Park Service numbers, needs more than $329 million of maintenance and upgrades.

The Park Service’s overall operations budget has dropped 7 percent — or nearly $173 million - over the past five years.