Coburn: Congress and NPS wasting money on little-visited parks

Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK), it the best friend that taxpayer have in Washington. Coburn authored a report on misguided use of financial resources by the National Park Service. Instead of maintaining and improving what it has, the NPS, compelled by Congress, keeps expanding its reach to include poorly visited spots such as the Bill Clinton Birthplace National Historical Site, which attracts an average of 24 visitors a day. And taxpayers $33 for each of those Clinton-philes.

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"Congress continues to add things – 'parks' - that aren't significant in terms of national interest in a declining budget. What we have is our most treasured resources, the big parks, with maintenance backlogs in excess of $2 billion."

The report catalogues a litany of unfilled potholes, crumbling stairs and deteriorating infrastructure in many of the nation’s most visited national parks. "Look at the Grand Canyon," says Coburn. "They're not even replacing water lines that are 50 years old. They can't even flush the toilets, because they're not doing the critical maintenance that's needed."

Mesa Verde National Park

He adds, "If you continue to add federal land and federal parks, what you are going to do is make this problem worse."

His report also documents many other cases of frivolous spending: a Park Ranger sent to Italy to judge an Italian Film Festival; an antique car show in Michigan; a wine tasting train in Ohio. The Service spent $731,000 to find stains on St Louis's Gateway Arch - but none of that money actually went to clean the stains.

As you can see, the National Park Service is not innocent. Just last month the politicized NPS, which infuriated Americans by erecting "Barrycades" around outdoor landmarks such as the World War II Memorial, recommended the creation of a multi-site historical park honoring liberal icon Cesar Chavez, which will undoubtedly suck oxygen from vital NPS needs.

Old Faithful

Last year the Cesar Chavez National Monument was dedicated by President Obama. It turned into a political rally.

Keep our parks open--and stop creating ones that few will visit.

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