Possible Rainier price: $100 million

National Parks figure disputed by Mount Rainier superintendent

By Les Blumenthal | McClatchy newspapers • Published March 28, 2007

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Some road repairs elsewhere in the park might be delayed until August because of concerns for threatened and endangered species, including the spotted owl, the marbled murrelet and bull trout.

In order to help make up for economic losses caused by the park's closure, the memo said additional services or longer operating seasons will be utilized in some areas. One example: The Sunrise visitor center on the park's east side will open in June, two weeks earlier than normal.

"I have assurances they will do whatever needs to be done to fix the problems," Dicks said. "I trust them."

During the hearing, Dicks said he was pleased that the Bush administration is proposing a 12 percent, or $206 million, increase in operating funds for the 390 parks, monuments, historic sites and other park service units. That follows several years in which funding was trimmed, forcing layoffs and reducing the number of seasonal employees hired.

But Dicks and others said that increase and other proposed increases in the park service budget came at the expense of other federal programs under his subcommittee's jurisdiction. Among others, the administration has proposed a $400 million cut in the Clean Water program administered by the Environmental Protection Agency and a $174 million cut in the Forest Service budget.

"It is unfortunate that the badly needed increases for the parks come at the expense of other domestic priorities funded in the bill," Dicks said.

Rep. David Obey, D-Wis., a member of the subcommittee and the chairman of the full House Appropriations Committee, said the increased park service funding was a mirage and was based on unacceptable cuts in other priority programs.

Bomar didn't respond to the criticism. But she noted that the centennial of the park service is approaching in 2016, and the budget includes $3 billion in new funds for the parks in the next 10 years. That includes $1 billion in federal funding, $1 billion in private funding and $1 billion in matching federal funds.

Dicks said he didn't have any problems with private funding, but Obey differed.

"There is significant concern about the potential for over-commercialization of the parks," he said.

Under questioning, Bomar said the park service still has a backlog of delayed maintenance projects that would cost nearly $8 billion to eliminate, including $1.1 billion in immediate needs. The budget proposal includes almost $1 billion for maintenance projects.

Olympian outdoors reporter Chester Allen contributed to this story.

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