National Parks Traveler Podcast Episode 222 | Debt Ceiling Crisis And The Parks

By Jess Repanshek - May 14th, 2023

While spring is slowly giving way to summer in many parts of the country, with visitors gaining more and more access to the National Park System, a stand-off in Washington over the country’s debt ceiling very likely would greatly disrupt operations in the parks. It was just a decade ago that a federal budget sequestration, that is a forced cut across all federal agencies' budgets as part of the Budget Control Act, led to closed campgrounds, Sunday closures of National Park System units, and 900 permanent positions that went unfilled. For the National Park Service, the sequestration led to a 5 percent budget cut that also led to a reduction in invasive plant control at the parks, a reduction in maintenance of fences and building repairs, science and research activities, and natural resource monitoring.

In Washington today, House Republicans want to see some pretty stiff budget cuts in return for agreeing to raise the debt ceiling. According to the New York Times, one outcome, if the funding cap’s proposal put forth by the Republicans is approved, would be a 51 percent reduction in the Interior Department’s budget.

How devastating might that be to the National Park Service and the National Park System? We’re going to explore that question with Mike Murray, chair of the Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks, and John Garder, senior director of Budget and Appropriations at the National Parks Conservation Association.

:02 National Parks Traveler introduction
:12 Episode Intro with Kurt Repanshek
1:25 Beyond the Reef - Tim Heintz & Grant Geissman - Seascapes: A Musical Journey
1:42 The Everglades Foundation
1:53 Grand Teton National Park Foundation
2:23 Yosemite Conservancy
2:46 Great Smoky Mountains Association
3:09 Debt Ceiling Crisis and the Parks
18:26 Wabanaki - Nature’s Symphony - The Sounds of Acadia
18:47 Traveler Promo
18:59 Interior Federal Credit Union
19:20 Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation
19:42 Friends of Acadia
20:08 Potrero Group
20:34 Washington’s National Park Fund
21:11 Debt Ceiling Crisis and the Parks Continues
42:06 Shenandoah - Randy Petersen - The Sounds of Shenandoah
42:27 Episode Closing
42:43 Orange Tree Productions
43:16 Splitbeard Productions
43:26 National Parks Traveler footer

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