Funding shortages are leaving officials at the national parks with little or no power to acquire new lands, enabling private interests to buy up sensitive lands before they can be protected federally.
"Within less than a decade, national park officials have seen the federal budget for land acquisition slashed by 75 percent, making it increasingly difficult for administrators to purchase roughly 1.8 million acres of privately owned land inside national parks. The 2008 budget offers $35 million – a slight uptick, but far less than the nearly $140 million spent in 1999."
"Parks instead have received more money to address a massive maintenance backlog."
"The dwindling acquisition budget is resulting in land slipping away – either to private citizens or developers who permanently transform the land."
Read the full story: When pieces of national parks go on sale, U.S. can't pay
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