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Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

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Grand Canyon May Get Improvements, Additional Staff

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Thursday, February 26, 2015   

GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK, Ariz. - Grand Canyon and other national parks could get some much-needed maintenance and additional staff if Congress approves a proposed budget currently under consideration.

John Garder, budget and appropriations director for the National Parks Conservation Association, says Interior Secretary Sally Jewell is asking Congress to increase National Park Service funding by more than $400 million, an increase of more than 10 percent.

After years of recession-related budget cuts, Garder says parks are "in pretty rough shape."

"Improvements to trails, restoring trails that are crumbling," he says. "We also need improvements to visitor centers where they have out-of-date programs, leaking roofs, bathrooms that are decaying and other needs."

Garder says some parks have deteriorated to the point of causing dangerous conditions for visitors. He notes there is more than $300 million in "deferred maintenance" costs at Grand Canyon alone.

According to Garder, maintaining and improving national parks is critical because they serve as huge economic drivers.

"In Arizona, more than 10 million visitors in 2013 spent more than $773 million," he says. "That supported almost 12,000 private sector jobs."

Nationally, Garder says national parks contributed about $27 billion to the U.S. economy in 2013, and supported nearly 250,000 jobs.


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