WASHINGTON — A conservation group warned Tuesday that unless the White House and Congress provide more money to buy private land within park boundaries, there could be logging at Washington state’s Mount Rainier, commercial development at Valley Forge and similar problems at national parks from Golden Gate to Gettysburg.
A National Parks Conservation Association report said funding to buy so-called in-holdings within the parks has declined sharply over the past decade, from a high of nearly $148 million annually to $44 million now.
“It’s not a pretty story,” Ron Tipton, a senior vice president for the association, said during a conference call.
Nationwide, there are roughly 1.8 million acres of privately held land within national park boundaries that would cost an estimated $1.9 billion to buy, Tipton said.
“The American public will be surprised to learn a lot of land in the parks is not protected,” he said. “A lot of land is vulnerable to being developed, subdivided or sold.”
At Gettysburg National Military Park in Pennsylvania, one in every five acres is privately held. At Valley Forge National Historic Park in Pennsylvania, one in every 10 acres is privately held, and a hotel, conference center and museum are planned “within cannon shot” of Gen. Washington’s headquarters, the report said.
In Zion National Park in Utah, construction has started on a conference center on private land; in Denali National Park and Preserve in Alaska, unpatented mining claims could be used as the site of a remote lodge.
The Land and Water Conservation Fund was established in 1964 to pay for land purchases by the National Park Service, the Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management and other federal agencies. Money for the fund comes from royalties paid on offshore oil and gas leases. But Congress decides how much to put into the fund every year.
The Park Service is aware of the private holdings in park boundaries, but over the past few years it has focused on maintenance, operation and construction, said Dave Barna, a Park Service spokesman.
Over the past 30 or 40 years, Barna said, Democrats have been more interested in expanding the national park system, and Republicans want to better maintain existing sites.
“The pendulum swings back and forth,” he said.
The report can be found online at .
