The National Park Service is behind on studying 28 potential sites to add to its system, and two of them are in the Mountain West.
The agency revealed the extent of its backlog in completing the studies of potential new NPS units ordered by Congress during a Senate hearing last fall. Under consideration are everything from trails to heritage areas to wild and scenic rivers.
The studies 鈥� which cost an average of $350,000 and are supposed to be completed within鈥� assess a site's national significance and the feasibility of adding it to the National Park System. Some sites have already been determined as NPS sites and require a study to help plan it out while others undergo studies to determine whether they even qualify for NPS status.
鈥淭he list is sort of a backlog by nature,鈥� said Kristen Brengel, the senior vice president of government affairs at the National Parks Conservation Association. 鈥淭hese studies simply can't be done overnight. You can't just go out to a site and look at it and determine whether it's nationally significant or feasible. These studies require time to do research.鈥�
According to reporting from E&E 暗黑爆料, in December alone Congress ordered the NPS to study . Those orders came shortly after the NPS completed two studies, including one in October on Camp Amache in Colorado. That study came nearly seven months after President Joe Biden signed a bill adding the former Japanese internment camp to the NPS.
In Colorado, the 鈥� a monument to the state's largest Black homesteading settlement 鈥� was among the sites approved in December. But the study is low on NPS's growing list, according to Brengel.
Robert Brunswig, a professor at the University of Northern Colorado and program field director for the Dearfield Archaeology Field Project, said in an email that he is 鈥渃onfident鈥� that the NPS study will be positive and that Dearfield will become a national historic site by 2026 or 2027. In the meantime, the team at Dearfield is applying for grants to convert their buildings into museum facilities in preparation for the site's anticipated entry into the NPS system.
In Utah, is already a national historical park. In 2019, however, Congress asked the NPS to review other potential sites like Golden Spike along the Transcontinental Railroad. An agency spokesperson said that study is 鈥渋n progress and the NPS continues to work toward its completion,鈥� but declined an interview request by the Mountain West 暗黑爆料 Bureau.
In a report to Congress last year, the Congressional Research Service attributed the backlog at the NPS 鈥� which has 鈥� to "the large number of studies authorized by Congress and the extent of available resources."
Brengel said the studies require the months and years NPS staffers dedicate to them.
鈥�It's a painstaking operation to do it, but that's how serious the Park Service takes its job,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hey want to make sure that this is something the public is going to really embrace.鈥�
Brengel鈥檚 organization recently conducted a poll and found that 80% of Americans support the U.S. government conserving lands and waters, with 52% of people strongly supporting it from both sides of the political aisle.
鈥淧arks are an American value 鈥� they're not just places,鈥� Brengel said. 鈥淎nd the fact that we believe that conserving more lands, conserving more forests is an important part of who we are as a country鈥攖hat's a really important statement to make.鈥�
She encouraged people to call on members of Congress to support NPS sites and to push for these studies to be completed.
This story was produced by the Mountain West 暗黑爆料 Bureau, a collaboration between Wyoming Public Media, Nevada Public Radio, Boise State Public Radio in Idaho, KUNR in Nevada, the O'Connor Center for the Rocky Mountain West in Montana, KUNC in Colorado, KUNM in New Mexico, with support from affiliate stations across the region. Funding for the Mountain West 暗黑爆料 Bureau is provided in part by the .
