NPS discretionary appropriations requested for fiscal year 2025/Congressional Research Service

While the House failed to change funding for the Greater American Outdoors Act, which helps federal land managers catch up on maintenance projects, the chamber did make significant cuts to the National Park Service’s two main accounts that fund ongoing construction, repairs and maintenance.

According to the Congressional Research Service, “(T)he two discretionary subactivities (“Construction and Maintenance line items” in the Construction account and “Repair and Rehabilitation” in the (Park Operations) account) were the primary sources of discretionary funds for NPS DM. For fiscal year 2024, PL 118-42 provided $191.6 million for these two subactivities, a 27 percent decrease from fiscal year 2023. For fiscal year 2025, HR 8998 provided $57.8 million for Construction and Maintenance line items—28 percent less than fiscal year 2024—and did not specify amounts for Repair and Rehabilitation.”

The maintenance backlog is due to the Park Service’s inability to handle routine maintenance.

The CRS said the Biden administration has requested $3.576 billion in discretionary appropriations for the National Park Service for fiscal year 2025, which begins Oct. 1. The request is 8 percent higher than the NPS’s fiscal year 2024 discretionary appropriations of $3.325 billion, the service said.

“On July 11, 2024, the House Committee on Appropriations reported H.R. 8998 (H.Rept. 118-581) with $3.115 billion for NPS for fiscal year 2025. This amount is 13 percent below the Administration’s request and 6 percent below the fiscal year 2024 appropriation,” CRS said.