Park Facility Management
Park Facilities Management
     
 

Asset Management and the President's Commitment to Reduce the Maintenance Backlog

The Bush Administration’s FY 2004 proposed budget for the National Park Service (NPS) reflects a strong commitment to manage the deferred maintenance backlog. The President remains committed to providing funding and initiating management reforms and performance measurement tools to enable the NPS to restore national parks and ensure a legacy of protecting the Nation’s cultural, natural and recreational resources for Americans today and in the future.

To support our deferred maintenance backlog, NPS has launched an internal communications effort to increase awareness of progress to date. Communications outreach has occurred in many forms, including an electronic magazine/newsletter, Park Service Director Mainella’s April message to all employees, and a CD-ROM for NPS leadership and park managers. The CD-ROM emphasizes accountability and how the information stemming from the annual condition assessments that will be completed by end of FY 2003 will be used to make cost-effective decisions about investments in park assets long after NPS accomplishes the goal of reducing the current backlog of deferred maintenance.

Efforts to reach this goal will be accelerated in FY 2004, with an overall funding level of $1.081 billion to address NPS deferred maintenance. This represents an increase of some $195 million above FY 2003 levels.
  • Of this funding, a $135 million increase is proposed in FY 2004 for the Transportation Department’s Federal Lands Highway Program as part of the next highway authorization legislation. This increase would bring the program to a $300 million level and address the deferred maintenance needs of existing park roads and bridges, planning for the Foothills and Natchez Trace parkways, and continue the planning and implementation of alternative transportation systems. Using scientific measures to rate pavement condition, the Administration is seeking to improve the overall condition of the road and bridge system.
  • Examples of key construction projects requested in FY 2004 to address long-standing needs in parks include: replacing a failing wastewater treatment facility at Wind Cave National Park; reconstructing historic stone guard walls along the Blue Ridge Parkway; replacing and expanding the Sunset Point restroom and renovating a picnic facility at Bryce Canyon National Park; installing safety rails and repairing walkways on George’s Island at Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area; and preserving and protecting Meridian Hill Park in Rock Creek Park.
  • Emphasis on management reforms and performance measures, featuring a state-of-the-art software system, are enabling the NPS to refine budget estimates based on the actual condition of facilities. The Service is accelerating its efforts to undertake facility condition assessments at more than 350 parks to provide, for the first time ever, a comprehensive inventory of maintenance needs. Annual condition assessments will be completed for all but the nine largest parks by the end of FY 2003.
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National Park Service
U.S. Department of the Interior
Updated: Thursday, 29-Jan-04 14:19:34
Contact: meg_leffel@nps.gov
www.nps.gov/facility/index.htm