Acting Interior Secretary David Bernhardt's willingness to spend more than a quarter-billion dollars in national park fees dedicated to improving visitor experiences to staff the park system during the partial government shutdown earlier this year was a reckless move that should never have come about, according to park advocates.

Bernhardt had green-lighted the use of nearly $253 million by P. Daniel Smith, the acting director of the National Park Service, to bring back park maintenance staff and additional support to clean up and protect the parks during the 35-day shutdown.

The money was to come from fees collected under the Federal Lands Recreational Enhancement Act, legislation intended to use the revenues to enhance the park experience for visitors through improved interpretive programs, better facilities, or restored habitat. More than 50 percent of the collected fees are to go to address deferred maintenance across the park system, a nearly $12 billion problem.

But Bernhardt, on January 5, as trash and human waste were piling up in the parks, creating both unsanitary conditions and making human foods available to wildlife, directed Smith to dip into the FLREA funds for staffing. Another problem with tapping those dollars is that some of those funds are spent on seasonal positions, such as staffing campgrounds, and that redirection could put parks in another budgetary bind for their high seasons.

In the end, a budget solution adopted by Congress and signed by President Trump allowed the Park Service to tap current appropriations and not rely on the FLREA funds as planned. However, the move nevertheless set a potential precedent for turning to FLREA dollars for daily park operational needs. Bernhardt said as much in a letter to U.S. Sen. Tom Udall, D-New Mexico, ranking member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on the Interior, Environment and Related Agencies, who had sought an explanation for the use of FLREA funds.

"My direction on January 5 outlined a plan to use the available fees at specific parks in a manner that was squarely within the specified purposes within FLREA, including maintaining restrooms and sanitation, providing trash collection, maintaining roads, operating campgrounds, conducting law enforcement and emergency operations, and staffing entrance gates as necessary to provide critical safety information,” Bernhardt wrote Udall.

"It is my hope that you will review the enclosed decision documents in their entirety to fully understand the sound basis for my decisions and the valuable direction this will provide for similar situations in the future,” he added a bit later.

Details of the letter were reported by The Hill.

Back in January the use of FLREA funds was quickly called into question by park advocates and some in Congress. Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives announced plans to hold hearings into the legality of the move, while park superintendents and friends groups expressed concern because those funds are counted on to enhance the visitor experience, not meet the daily needs of operating a park. 

FLREA funds normally go toward projects planned as much as five years in advance. While some of larger parks, such as Yosemite, Yellowstone, the Grand Canyon, might have millions of dollars in fees in the bank, other parks might be holding onto just thousands of dollars. At Great Smoky Mountains National Park, there is no entrance fee charged at all, so that greatly limits its revenue stream.

Word that Bernhardt was willing to wipe out the FLREA account to keep the parks operating during the shutdown "speaks to the recklessness of the administration’s approach to the shutdown," John Garder, senior director of budget and appropriations for the National Parks Conservation Association, told the Traveler on Saturday. "That the administration appears to have considered the option of maintaining such a damaging situation for our parks for many weeks is alarming given that there were clear and demonstrated threats and considerable harm to the cultural and natural resources that the Department of the Interior is obligated to protect. 

"... We commend Senator Udall and the many other members of Congress who are providing needed oversight, as our parks and their resources cannot afford ill-conceived budgetary shell games that leave them open to damage," he added.