National parks in budget turmoil

But she would not say that cuts elsewhere fund such anti-terrorism. In fact, she said funding is up at most parks despite the Deseret Morning News analysis — because published park budgets do not include many key funding sources such as repair and rehabilitation money, recreation fees, concessions and resource grants, or because year-to-year cuts may not reflect long-term funding increases.

When all that is factored in, she said, "since 2001, about 320 (of 388 units) have had increases."

Still, a look at operational budgets online shows a net, combined increase of all park-level budgets from 2003 to 2004 of only $6.9 million — a small amount that would cover the increases at only the seven parks with the largest budget hikes.

(Part three of this series, which will run Tuesday, looks at whether politics may drain money from key parks and divert surprisingly large amounts to lesser-known parks in politically powerful areas.)

Cuts for Utah parks

In Utah, 10 of 13 National Park Service sites reported initial budget cuts in 2004: Arches, Bryce Canyon, Capitol Reef, Canyonlands and Zion national parks; Cedar Breaks, Dinosaur, Hovenweep and Rainbow Bridge national monuments; and Glen Canyon National Recreation Area (Lake Powell). Cedar Breaks said a late, midseason adjustment actually gave it a belated increase for the year.

Records showed that Natural Bridges National Monument received the same budget as 2003. Two Utah sites had budget increases: Golden Spike National Historic Site and Timpanogos Cave National Monument.

The Morning News analysis showed that the 13 NPS sites in Utah had a combined net budget decrease of $141,000 in 2004 — down from a combined $31.93 million in 2003 to $31.79 million in 2004.

(Grand-Staircase Escalante National Monument is not operated by the National Park Service but by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, which is also a part of the Interior Department. It is funded by the BLM. That park's budget was cut by $300,000 last year — the most of any federal Utah park.)

However, again, Scarlett says the published park operation budgets do not include money from several important programs. She said if such money were counted, nine of the 13 NPS sites in Utah had budget hikes between 2003 and 2004 — all but Canyonlands, Capitol Reef, Glen Canyon and Hovenweep.

(Part 2 of this series, which will run Monday, takes an in-depth look at funding for Utah's national parks.)

Money up, service down?