WASHINGTON--The Bush Administration’s FY 2005 proposed budget for the National Park Service is $2.4 billion. This budget proposal, which is a net increase of over $100 million above FY 2004, demonstrates a strong commitment to sustaining the National Park System with emphasis on reducing the maintenance backlog, strengthening law enforcement and improving visitor safety programs, enhancing resource management, and expanding partnership and volunteer opportunities.

“The 2005 budget request for the National Park Service represents the President’s determination and strong commitment to reducing the park maintenance backlog, preserving park resources and improving the visitor experience in our parks and special places,” NPS Director Fran Mainella said. “This commitment coupled with the hard work of our park employees nationwide reflects our top priority for protecting and preserving America’s national treasures.”

Presented with a significant park maintenance backlog at the beginning of his Administration, President Bush promised to address the backlog problem and to reverse the trend. The President committed to spend $4.9 billion over 5 years to address known problems while NPS conducted inventory and condition assessments to determine the magnitude of deferred maintenance of NPS assets and the preventive requirements to protect the investments being made. Between FY 2002 and FY 2004, a total of $2.8 billion has been appropriated to specifically address the deferred maintenance issue. The FY 2005 budget proposes $1.1 billion, including $310 million as part of the President’s Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century reauthorization proposal. This request reflects an increase of $77 million over the FY 2004 level for reducing the maintenance backlog.

Highlights of the proposed FY 2005 budget include:

Cooperative Conservation Initiative. The proposed budget requests $21 million, most of which will provide new and expanded opportunities for partner participation through the NPS Challenge Cost Share Program. In the FY 2005 request, $12 million will be funded in the Challenge Cost Share Program for natural resource restoration. CCI funds projects based on a one-to-one or better match in funds.

This funding request will expand opportunities for cooperative conservation partnerships and citizen-steward initiatives to promote the President’s vision of a new environmentalism. This vision is built on the principles of local input, community action, and respect for private property. It also encompasses working with States, Tribes, local communities, and citizens to sustain healthy lands, promote thriving communities, and productive economies, while empowering citizens to do what the government cannot do alone.

Managing the National Park Service deferred maintenance backlog. The NPS preserves and maintains many of America’s cultural, historic, and natural treasures. Operating and maintaining the Service’s nearly 16,000 administrative and public use buildings, which includes an estimated 5,700 historic structures, 1,200 water systems, 1,400 wastewater systems, about 1,100 campgrounds, and 11,900 miles of paved and unpaved roads poses a major challenge.

The centerpiece of the President’s approach to addressing the backlog—focusing on priorities and performance accomplishments through a comprehensive asset management strategy--has enabled the NPS, for the first time in its history, to inventory its assets and measure the condition of its facilities. This information will be used to monitor and prioritize ongoing maintenance needs, thus ensuring the best use of taxpayer dollars. During the past three years, the NPS has implemented this management reform process to provide a comprehensive asset inventory and establish a service-wide baseline for facility conditions.

An increase of more than $8 million is proposed in the FY 2005 budget for repair and rehabilitation. NPS will use these additional funds to improve a defined set of priority buildings to good condition, thus applying the facility condition information gathered during the initial condition assessment phase. The proposed repair and rehabilitation program now totals more than $107 million. The NPS completed approximately 860 repair and rehabilitation projects in just two years. These projects have enhanced the experience of park visitors and improved employee safety. The NPS has also improved health protection by upgrading and repairing 180 water, wastewater, and sewer facilities.

The proposed FY 2005 budget provides $10 million in park-specific operating increases for repair and maintenance of buildings and roads, and an additional $3 million to remove deteriorating hazardous structures, which will be of great significance to managing the maintenance backlog for years to come. Establishing a demolition fund will enhance the ability of the NPS to more effectively direct resources to restoring and rehabilitating structures that better suit the NPS mission.

Preserve America. The President’s FY 2005 budget request for the first time includes $10 million to fund Preserve America, a White House initiative announced by First Lady Laura Bush in March 2003. This unique historic preservation initiative was developed in cooperation with the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, the U.S. Department of the Interior, and the U.S. Department of Commerce. Preserve America matching grants will recognize communities that have taken innovative approaches to historic preservation and heritage tourism. This money will assist States, Indian Tribes, and communities in realizing the heritage tourism potential of their historic resources, just as Save America’s Treasures grants have helped them to restore and preserve those resources. It will complement Save America’s Treasures grants, which are being funded in the FY 2005 budget at last year’s level of $30 million.

Strengthening Law Enforcement. The FY 2005 budget request includes a $12.4 million increase for law enforcement and related protection needs, including $4.7 million for the protection of border and icon parks. The non-park portions of this increase include $1.2 million for regional special agents, $2.2 million for the incident management analysis and reporting system (IMARS), and $300,000 for establishing central management of the law enforcement function. Also included in the request is $2 million to increase United States Park Police site security of monuments and icons, and $2 million for security needs associated with the 2005 Presidential Inaugural ceremonies.

Park Operations. The request for the Operation of the National Park System appropriation that funds visitor services, resource preservation and protection and other park programs is $1.7 billion, a net increase of $76.5 million over FY 2004. An increase of $22 million is requested for park base operations focusing on maintenance and security. Funding of $8.3 million is requested for new park responsibilities, including $365,000 to establish operations at the newly created Flight 93 National Memorial, Pennsylvania.

Resource Management. Through the Natural Resource Challenge, the NPS monitors conditions within park boundaries and surrounding areas. The FY 2005 budget proposes increases of $4.1 million to measure the health of park ecosystems along with an increase of $528,000 for water quality monitoring in parks. With these increases, cumulative increases in the Natural Resource Challenge over the 2001 level will total nearly $150 million.

Volunteer and Partnerships programs. The NPS continues to build on the success of the Volunteers-in-Parks program in requesting an overall increase of $850,000 in FY 2005. Of this amount, $600,000 will provide for the costs of training, supervising, and utilizing an anticipated 4 percent increase of volunteers expected from new programs such as the Master Volunteer Ranger Corps and programs targeting “senior” volunteers. This funding will also support additional volunteer projects as part of the Take Pride in America program. The remaining portion of the increase, $250,000, will provide for the creation of regional VIP/Partnership coordinators to assist in directing and managing the steadily increasing number of volunteer and partnership projects.

Land acquisition. The land acquisition funding request for the NPS is $84 million, a net increase of $42.5 million. The 2005 request includes $40 million for Big Cypress National Preserve, Florida. NPS would use the funds to acquire a portion of the oil and gas holdings underlying the Preserve from the Collier Resources Company. Other proposed land acquisitions in the FY 2005 request, totaling $21 million, include $2.2 million for the Flight 93 National Memorial, Pennsylvania, and $5 million for Civil War battlefield grants.

Presidential Management Agenda. The NPS remains committed to the President’s Management Agenda. The FY 2005 budget request echoes this commitment with an increase of $8 million to help improve management and performance of the NPS, while embracing the Secretary’s vision for citizen-centered management excellence. Key increases are proposed for information technology improvements, security enhancements, and for strengthening financial management and performance budgeting.