National park maintenance work sidelined as Trump’s Freedom 250 takes precedence
- National Park Service employees were told that approved maintenance projects for this year were moved to a new low-priority list as the White House focused on Trump’s Freedom 250 initiative.
- Documents and officials said projects tied to the administration’s priorities, including repairs to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, were placed on a separate White House priority list.
- Nearly all of about 1,500 maintenance and other projects on the low-priority list as of last month are expected to go unfinished, according to the officials.
- The delayed work spans more than 200 sites and includes roof repairs at Golden Gate National Recreation Area, computer upgrades at Katmai National Park, and bulk purchases such as toilet paper and garbage bags at Yellowstone National Park.
- The article says the park maintenance backlog has doubled over the past decade to more than $24 billion, and the delay could worsen it.
National Park Service employees were told that a set of approved maintenance projects for the year was moved to a low-priority list as the Trump administration elevated work tied to its Freedom 250 initiative, according to documents and officials cited in the report. Projects connected to White House priorities, including repairs to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, were placed on a separate list.
The article says many of the administration-backed projects have advanced, although the reflecting pool repairs were botched. By contrast, almost all of the roughly 1,500 maintenance and other projects on the low-priority list are expected to go unfinished, at least for now, because the fiscal year ends on Sept. 30.
The sidelined work spans more than 200 sites and includes items such as roof repairs at Golden Gate National Recreation Area, computer upgrades at Alaska’s Katmai National Park, and bulk purchases of supplies at Yellowstone National Park. The report says the delay could deepen a maintenance backlog at national parks that has grown to more than $24 billion over the past decade.
Because the projects were moved to low priority status, officials said it is unclear when they will move ahead unless park staff find a workaround.
特朗普“Freedom 250”优先于国家公园维护工作
报道援引文件和官员称，国家公园管理局员工被告知，一批已获批准的年度维护项目被移入低优先级清单，因为特朗普政府把与 Freedom 250 相关的工作提到更前面。与白宫优先事项相关的项目，包括林肯纪念堂倒影池的修缮，被单独列入另一份清单。
文中说，许多由政府推动的项目已经推进，但倒影池修缮出现了问题。相比之下，低优先级清单上的约1500个维护及其他项目，短期内几乎都不会完成，至少要到9月30日财政年度结束前都难以推进。
这些被搁置的工作分布在200多个地点，包括金门国家游憩区的屋顶维修、阿拉斯加卡特迈国家公园的电脑升级，以及黄石国家公园的批量物资采购。报道指出，这可能进一步加重国家公园的维护积压，而这一积压在过去十年已增至超过240亿美元。
由于项目被降为低优先级，官员表示，除非园方工作人员找到变通办法，否则这些工作何时恢复推进仍不清楚。