from blueridgenow.com (the Hendersonville Times-News

by Nathaniel Axtell
(excerpt)
Federal budget cutbacks have forced the National Park Service units such as the Carl Sandburg Home in Flat Rock and the Blue Ridge Parkway to make do with less over the past decade, even as visitation has increased.

The Blue Ridge Parkway had 120 maintenance workers in 2001; they’re now down to 80, officials say, despite an estimated $385 million backlog in projects along the 469-mile parkway, mostly involving road maintenance. ...

Years of deferring projects, utilizing volunteers and letting positions go unfilled has gotten the Park Service through some lean years, but now the agency faces what park advocates say is a looming crisis. ...