Park Service Sitting On Half-A-Billion Dollars Of Concessions Obligations

Across the National Park System, there is an estimated half-a-billion-dollars of obligations owed concessionaires who run lodges, restaurants, and even some activities, for the National Park Service.
It's a sum that, while Park Service officials say is manageable, has seemingly stifled concessions competition in some parks and led the agency to divert tens of millions of dollars from some parks to others to reduce the debts. At Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming, the outstanding amount is more than $57 million. At Glacier National Park in Montana, it's $22 million. At Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona, it's nearly $100 million. At Yellowstone National Park, the sum is $21.5 million.  Those figures are built into the existing concessions contracts, and not owed immediately, but could come due at the end of the current pacts. The ramifications of carrying such large sums on the books has been most evident at Grand Canyon National Park, where the Park Service has failed to see robust competition for its South Rim concessions...more