Washington • House Natural Resources Chairman Rob Bishop and his Democratic counterpart, Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., on Wednesday introduced legislation to earmark some $5.2 billion over five years to fix aging roads, trails and other basic needs at national parks and wildlife refuges that have been piling up for decades.
The bipartisan bill, which is matched by a similar Senate measure, is aimed at starting to tackle a nearly $12 billion maintenance backlog at America’s national parks where sewer systems, bridges, paths and structures have been crumbling – or in some cases, not working – because of a lack of funding for the National Park Service.