PORT ANGELES — Across-the-board cuts to national parks in 2012 could result in an eight-year low for funding for Olympic National Park, a park advocacy group said in a report that used 12 national parks as examples of the dangers of cuts in funding.
The National Parks Conservation Association wrote in “Made in America: Investing in National Parks for Our Heritage and Our Economy” that Olympic National Park would be in the same situation it was in 2004 if additional cuts to the national park system are made to reduce the federal deficit.
That year, the park cut its seasonal employees from 130 to 25, reduced the length of campground seasons, closed some entrance stations and backcountry trails, cut hours at visitor centers and had fewer law enforcement patrols as it dealt with a $6 million shortfall.
It also said it came close to having to close its Forks visitor center in 2005.
In 2008, a funding increase allowed the park to extend its hours at visitor centers, add more staff and provide for more training for volunteers.
But the report said maintenance funding for Olympic National Park is “still in short supply” and that the park relies heavily on $1.5 million in entrance fees annually for maintenance and repairs.
A park spokesperson could not be reached for comment.
Olympic National Park was one of 12 parks highlighted in the report, issued by the private foundation to make the case for avoiding more cuts to the National Park Service.
The group said the parks featured in the 54-page report were chosen to represent “the breadth of the national park system and the resource and staffing challenges facing so many areas within the park system.
“In highlighting these parks, we in no way intend to signal that these parks require more or less attention than others,” the foundation said.
Friends of Olympic National Park President Larry Stetson said he could not comment because he had not viewed the report.
The conservation association fears national parks could be subject to a 9 percent cut if Congress is unable to come up with a deficit reduction plan.
It noted in its report released this month that funding for the National Park Service was reduced by nearly $140 million in 2011.
Cuts equal or half that amount could be disastrous, the report said.
For example, it said such cuts could result in the closure of campgrounds and visitor centers, law enforcement and ranger numbers would be reduced, monitoring of endangered species would suffer, and visitation, which helps local economies, would decline.
The report said $4 is added to the economy for every $1 invested in national parks.
It also said that “the overall appropriation for the National Park Service is nearly $400 million (or 13 percent) less than it was 10 years ago.”
Also featured in the report are Acadia National Park in Maine, Bandelier National Monument in New Mexico, Blue Ridge Parkway in Virginia and North Carolina, Cumberland Gap National Historical Park in Kentucky and Tennessee, Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, Everglades National Park in Florida, Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Tennessee and North Carolina, Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area in Washington, Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument in Montana, Petersburg National Battlefield and Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park in Virginia.
The report can be viewed at www.npca.org.
