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Florida National Parks Face Millions in Delayed Maintenance Costs

Miguel Vieira/Flickr
Credit Miguel Vieira/Flickr

The National Park Service recently released a list of how much delayed maintenance projects cost for parks around the country.

In Florida, the amount comes to almost $192 million. At Everglades National Park, operators are trying to figure out what to do as that number grows.

The National Park Service said the cost of Everglades National Park’s to-do list comes to almost $59 million. But, the park’s Deputy Superintendent Justin Unger said that number is closer to $63 million.

Each year, Unger said the park has about $2 million to put toward fixing things like visitor facilities, roads and marinas.

He said delayed to-do work has had real consequences for the park.

“In some cases that means that we had to close portions of the park. There is a portion of the park… which is a great day use area. It had some deferred maintenance on it. It actually had a restroom facility that the roof has since collapsed,” he said.

One way the park is thinking about taking a chunk out of those costs is to increase entrance fees.

They’re also hoping for a funding boost from the federal government as the Park Service nears celebrating its centennial in 2016.

Below shows the National Park Service's list of delayed maintenance costs for parks across the country:

Copyright 2020 WGCU. To see more, visit WGCU.

Topher is a reporter at WGCU News.
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