Group says New Mexico’s national parks need $102M in maintenance

National parks and monuments like Carlsbad Caverns, Chaco Canyon, White Sands and Bandelier attract hundreds of thousands of visitors to New Mexico each year. Those numbers are expected to increase next year when the National Park Service begins what is expected to be a huge public relations push for its centennial celebration. But national parks and monuments across the country, including in New Mexico, have maintenance and repair projects that remain on the drawing boards due to chronic underfunding in a broken federal budget system, park supporters say. “Our national parks are more than just our nation’s crown jewels. Parks like Carlsbad Caverns are major economic drivers in their communities,” U.S. Sen. Tom Udall told The New Mexican recently through a spokeswoman. “We owe it to all Americans to solve the maintenance backlog so that visitors can continue to enjoy our natural wonders.” John Garder, director of budget and appropriations for the National Parks Conservation Association, said in a recent interview that the maintenance backlog has yet to have a visible effect on the number of visitors to New Mexico parks. “Many of the things needed are not really visible to visitors,” he said. But he warned, “If this continues, you can expect to see a decline in visitors, which will affect local economies.” The national maintenance backlog, according to the National Parks Conservation Association, entails projects totaling more than $11.5 billion. And here in New Mexico, there is $102 million worth of maintenance that needs to be done. According to the Washington, D.C.-based association, Carlsbad Caverns in Southern New Mexico has more than $31 million in deferred maintenance needs. The parks and monuments generate almost $89 million annually in visitor spending for the state and support 1,400 jobs, the National Parks Conservation Association says. Both Udall and U.S. Rep. Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M., blamed the sequester — across-the-board cuts that chopped $1.5 trillion out of the federal budget over 10 years beginning in 2013 — for the maintenance backlog at the national parks...more

Both Udall and Lujan "blamed the sequester", which began in 2013, for the backlog.  That's weird, because the same organization, NPCA issued a report in 2004 saying the backlog was $6.8 billion back then.  The truth is, that backlog has been there, and been growing, for years.  Yet, Udall-Heinrich-Lujan keep adding additional units to the system (2 monuments + 1 park preserve totaling over 800,000 acres in NM in the last two years) when they know what currently exists can't be maintained.  If they can't get funding for the Carlsbad Caverns do they really think these new areas will be appropriately funded and managed?