Hundreds of millions of dollars in deferred maintenance are piling up at Montana and Wyoming national parks — including Glacier National Park and Yellowstone — while the Trump administration directs tens of millions in visitor entrance fees toward Washington, D.C. construction and beautification projects, according to federal budget figures reviewed at a congressional hearing last month.

The Scale of the Backlog

Glacier National Park alone faces a maintenance backlog exceeding $132 million. The largest share — roughly $77 million — covers deteriorating paved roads, with additional needs in buildings ($18 million), trails ($13 million), water systems ($7.3 million), housing ($4.1 million), campgrounds ($3.2 million), unpaved roads ($2.3 million), and wastewater infrastructure ($1.9 million).

Montana’s other parks add meaningfully to the total. Little Bighorn National Monument carries a $23 million backlog, with road and building needs accounting for the bulk of that figure. Grant-Kohrs Ranch National Historic Site near Deer Lodge has a $2.6 million backlog. Taken together, Montana parks outside Yellowstone face more than $230 million in outstanding repairs.

Yellowstone’s situation is substantially larger. The park needs an estimated $523 million for paved roads alone, along with $218 million for employee housing, $211 million for water systems, and $74 million for sewerage infrastructure. Across Wyoming, when Grand Teton National Park’s needs are added — including $167 million for roads, $118 million for buildings, $16 million for trails, and $8.8 million for wastewater — the combined state total exceeds $1.6 billion.

Where the Fee Revenue Is Going

At a U.S. House Natural Resources Committee hearing held in May on the president’s proposed 2027 budget, lawmakers scrutinized the Interior Department’s decision to spend at least $67 million in visitor entrance fees on the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool and various Washington fountains. An additional $1.6 million in park entrance fees is being directed toward a July 4 fireworks event in the capital.

The administration has requested $10 billion for what it calls a “Presidential Capital Stewardship Program” targeting construction and beautification work in Washington, D.C. By contrast, the proposed budget allocates less than $3 billion for repair and maintenance work across all national parks nationwide — a figure critics say is inadequate given the documented backlog at parks like Glacier and Yellowstone.

Emily Thompson, identified as executive director of a parks advocacy organization, was sharply critical of the administration’s spending priorities. “The administration has been plundering our national parks since it came into office, and Freedom 250 is now the latest affront,” she said.

Workforce Reductions Add to Concerns

The budget and spending debate comes alongside a 25 percent reduction in permanent National Park Service employees carried out by the Trump administration. Park advocates and some members of Congress have raised concerns that the workforce cuts, combined with the reallocation of entrance fees, could accelerate the deterioration of facilities at high-traffic parks that draw millions of visitors each year.

Yellowstone and Glacier are among the most visited parks in the country, and both depend heavily on road and infrastructure systems that, according to federal data, are in need of significant investment. Olympic National Park in Washington state faces a comparable challenge, with a backlog estimated at $300 million.

What Comes Next

The House Natural Resources Committee hearing in May provided a public forum for scrutiny of the administration’s 2027 budget priorities, but the appropriations process remains ongoing in Congress. How lawmakers ultimately balance D.C. infrastructure requests against park maintenance funding will shape conditions on the ground at Montana’s most visited federal lands for years to come.

Montana’s congressional delegation has historically been engaged on public lands and national park issues, and the state’s tourism economy — closely tied to the health of parks like Glacier — gives the funding debate particular salience ahead of the November general election.