National Park Service (NPS) Appropriations: Ten-Year Trends (CRS Report for Congress)
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| Release Date |
Revised Feb. 7, 2024 |
| Report Number |
R42757 |
| Report Type |
Report |
| Authors |
Laura B. Comay, Analyst in Natural Resources Policy |
| Source Agency |
Congressional Research Service |
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Summary:
The National Park Service (NPS) receives appropriations in the annual Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies appropriations bill. On December 18, 2015, the President signed into law P.L. 114-113, Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2016, containing FY2016 appropriations of $2.851 billion for NPS. The enacted appropriation represents an increase of $236.6 million (9.1%) over the FY2015 enacted amount but a decrease of $196.4 million from the agency request. The Obama Administration had requested $3.048 billion in discretionary appropriations for NPS for FY2016.
Earlier, on June 18, 2015, the House Appropriations Committee reported H.R. 2822, which contained appropriations of $2.667 billion for NPS. On June 23, 2015, the Senate Appropriations Committee reported S. 1645, containing $2.729 billion for NPS. Because no regular Interior appropriations act for FY2016 was enacted prior to the end of FY2015, a series of laws (P.L. 114-53, P.L. 114-96, and P.L. 114-100) provided continuing appropriations for NPS until full-year FY2016 appropriations were enacted in P.L. 114-113.
The Obama Administration released its FY2017 budget request for NPS in February 2016. For FY2017, the agency seeks $3.101 billion in discretionary appropriations, an increase of $250.2 million (8.8%) over the enacted FY2016 appropriation. In addition to the discretionary funding, the Administration proposes $1.238 billion in mandatory appropriations for NPS for FY2017, a growth of 135.6% over NPS mandatory funding in FY2016 ($525.4 million). Some of the mandatory appropriations would require changes in authorizing law. The discretionary and mandatory requests bring the Administration’s total request for NPS for FY2017 to $4.339 billion, an increase of $962.5 million (or 28.5%) over the FY2016 total of $3.376 billion. NPS states that much of the additional funding would be used to address the agency’s growing backlog of deferred maintenance, in connection with NPS’s centennial anniversary in 2016.
This report discusses NPS’s FY2016 appropriations and examines trends in the agency’s discretionary appropriations over the past decade (FY2007-FY2016). NPS appropriations rose and fell during that time. Overall, the enacted discretionary appropriation for FY2016 represented an increase of 24.0% in nominal dollars and 7.5% in inflation-adjusted dollars compared with a decade earlier (FY2007).
For most of this time, the NPS discretionary appropriation included five accounts. The largest by far is the Operation of the National Park System (ONPS) account, which supports the activities, programs, and services that form the day-to-day operations of the park system. The majority of ONPS funds are provided directly to managers of individual park units. This account grew over the decade by 11.6% in inflation-adjusted dollars. Another account, for federal and state land acquisition funding under the Land and Water Conservation Fund, grew by 135.3% in inflation-adjusted dollars. The other three accounts showed declines over the decade ranging from 8.4% to 43.7% in inflation-adjusted dollars. A sixth account, the Centennial Challenge account, was funded only in certain years.
The funding changes took place in the context of relative stability in the size of the National Park System, which grew slightly (by 0.3%) from 84.3 million to 84.6 million acres over the past 10 years. NPS staffing levels fluctuated around 20,000 and grew overall. Visits to the parks also increased over the decade, peaking at approximately 307 million visits in 2015.
