Maintaining a state park is a balancing act for governments that want to welcome as many visitors as possible, while protecting the natural beauty and wildlife habitat that those visitors came to see. And North Carolina faces challenges, as a running list of state park maintenance projects grew to $142 million this year.
Emily Mason, an advocate with Environment North Carolina, said more investment is needed to protect people, plants and wildlife.
“As our world shifts to being increasingly online and on devices, protecting and maintaining our public land should be a priority,” Mason said.
Environment North Carolina pointed to the growing list of maintenance projects as evidence that state parks needed greater investment. The nonprofit is pushing states to seek out new revenue, such as bonds, lottery funds and protected funds.
“The weather is warming up. People are thinking about going camping and hiking,” Mason said. “Although [state parks] are a resource to us all the time, every season, I think it’s just a little more top of mind for people.”
Brian Strong, director of North Carolina’s parks system, said that the $142 million figure doesn’t cover daily facility maintenance, but rather roughly 100 larger projects the state is planning for the future.
Still, operating costs have increased, and revenue from fees has declined following the pandemic.
“It’s going to be tight. We’ve had to cut our seasonal staff by about 50%,” Strong said.
Strong said the cuts will result in some swimming area closures and less frequent park maintenance.
