A sign along a trail at the popular Point Park atop Lookout Mountain has faded, the sidewalk steps are beginning to crumble. Below, in the Chickamauga Battlefield, more repairs are needed, park supporters argue, as roads, bridges and restrooms age.
There's nearly $50 million in deferred maintenance at the Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, according to 2015 figures from the National Park Service. Several local park supporters led a trails tour Friday near Point Park on Lookout Mountain in Tennessee to highlight the deferred maintenance.
"When we talk about deferred maintenance, we're talking about the backlog of roads, bridges, trails, bathrooms, and other facilities that make our national parks so enjoyable and accessible for the nearly 1 million people who visit Chattanooga and Chickamauga National Military Park," said Tricia Mims, executive director of the National Park Partners, in a statement. "The last major spending by Congress was over 60 years ago. It's time for another era of reinvestment."
Mims, former Chattanooga Mayor Ron Littlefield, and local trail advocate and president of the North Chickamauga Creek Conservancy Taft Sibley urged the local community to support legislation by U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., that would address the $11.6 billion backlog nationwide.
Deferred maintenance is defined by the park service as repairs that were not performed as scheduled or as needed and were put off to a future date - usually because of funding shortages.
"I've been involved in planning and politics and tourism here most of my life. I can tell you from experience that these parks have been so interlaced with our economic successes that you can't put a price on it," according to a statement from Littlefield. "I don't know any business people who would allow this amount of deferred maintenance to build up as we have with our national parks."
Local parks supporters gave a tour Friday at Point Park to highlight the deferred maintenance projects. Sen. Lamar Alexander introduced a bill earlier this year to address park maintenance backlogs nationwide (Photos contributed by the Pew Charitable Trust).Alexander joined Republican, Democratic and independent senators to reintroduce the Restore our Parks Act earlier this year. It passed the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources last year.
The act would establish a National Park Service Legacy Restoration Fund that would address the backlog by allocating existing revenues the government receives from on and offshore energy development.
A similar bill was introduced in the House and has more than 90 cosponsors.
"The legislation is supported by a bipartisan group of senators and representatives, the Trump administration and more than 100 conservation groups," according to a statement from Alexander at the time. "When an idea this good - fixing our national parks for future generations - gets this much bipartisan support, it's going to happen sooner or later. It is my hope we pass the legislation as soon as this year."
Contact Mark Pace at mpace@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6659. Follow him on Twitter @themarkpace and on Facebook at ChattanoogaOutdoorsTFP.
Local parks supporters gave a tour Friday at Point Park to highlight the deferred maintenance projects. Sen. Lamar Alexander introduced a bill earlier this year to address park maintenance backlogs nationwide (Photos contributed by the Pew Charitable Trust).