King, Secretary of Interior Nominee Agree to Address Maintenance Backlog at National Parks

WASHINGTON, D.C. - In a cabinet confirmation hearing of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee (ENR), U.S. Senator Angus King (I-ME), Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on National Parks, questioned President-elect Donald Trump's Secretary of Interior nominee North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum on the importance of addressing the maintenance backlog within the National Park Service (NPS). In the exchange, the two acknowledged that the proper amount of funding must be directed to ensure public lands remain safe and accessible for future generations to enjoy.

"Senator Daines mentioned the America the Beautiful Act that he and I have introduced, it is a refresh of the Great American Outdoors Act. One of the most successful of the Trump administration. I remember working with Secretary Zinke on that project. I'm gratified to hear your support for that proposal," began Senator King. "My final point is about the backlog of maintenance in the national parks and public lands. One of the problems is the department has chronically underfunded maintenance on an ongoing basis. In other words, we are being asked to fix a backlog that, frankly, should not have existed. I hope you will work with the National Park Service in the Office of Management and Budget to be sure a sufficient fund is allocated to ongoing maintenance so we don't continue to dig the hole deeper."

Burgum responded, "I agree with you on that and this is one of the things when I came in as a business guy into government I was shocked to find in North Dakota we did not have the appropriate formulas for funding deferred maintenance. Everybody was happy to approve appropriations to build new buildings, but it was tough to get a dime to take care of the ones we already had. This is something we will look at procedurally within Interior. We have over 2,400 locations, I am told, in terms of where we have people stationed. We just have to make sure not just the National Parks, but across the whole department, we have to get the formulas right because we are creating liabilities for future generations if we are not taking care of that deferred maintenance."

As a lifelong advocate for conservation and as the Ranking Member of the Energy and Natural Resources National Parks Subcommittee, Senator King is among the Senate's most prominent voices advocating for conservation. This past fall, Senator King introduced the bipartisan America the Beautiful Act to help further preserve and manage public lands through reauthorization of the National Parks and Public Land Legacy Restoration Fund (LRF).

The legislation builds on Senator King's earlier success of the Great American Outdoors Act (GAOA) which was passed into law during the first Trump Administration; legislation that included the Legacy Restoration Fund (LRF). Because of his work, in 2020, Senator King was awarded the inaugural National Park Foundation (NPF) "Hero" Award. Since the creation of the LRF, Senator King has pushed park leaders to discuss funding maintenance efforts, maintaining a sufficient NPS workforce, and managing growing park visitation.

Senator King's work in this space is the culmination of more than four decades on land conservation efforts in Maine, including helping to establish the Land for Maine's Future program in 1987 and supporting extensive conservation projects during his time as Governor - where he put more land under conservation than in Maine's entire 175 year history.

Recently, Senator King published an Op-Ed and spoke with CNN regarding his positions on the advise and consent process of Cabinet-Level nominees.

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