Wrecking national parks

Center for Western Priorities - Earlier this year, National Park Service headquarters in Washington shifted about 1,500 projects, many already approved, to a new "low priority" list, the Associated Press reported in August. The projects span more than 200 sites and carry a combined cost estimate of more than $400 million. Park Service employees "were told to not expect anything on the low priority list to be contracted," one official told the AP, and officials said almost all of the work is expected to go undone.

Meanwhile, White House priorities, including projects tied to President Donald Trump's Freedom 250 initiative, were given a new, top-priority status. That list included the $16 million botched effort to paint the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool blue.

A new interactive map from the Center for Western Priorities shows 1,492 projects designated low priority at 276 national parks and Park Service offices, drawn from an internal NPS project database. They range from roof repairs and computer upgrades to toilet paper and garbage bags. In the West, 548 projects across 12 states landed on the list, including 97 in Alaska, 90 in California, and 78 in Wyoming.

The Park Service's repair backlog has doubled over the last decade to more than $24 billion, and the agency has lost at least a quarter of its permanent workforce under the current Trump administration.