RELEASE: Rep. Obernolte requests funding for deferred maintenance at Mojave National Preserve and Joshua Tree National Park

Press Release

U.S. Congressman Jay Obernolte (R-Hesperia) questioned U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland during a hearing of the U.S. House of Representatives Natural Resources Committee on Wednesday, requesting the secretary take action to address deferred maintenance backlogs at Joshua Tree National Park and the Mojave National Preserve.

REP. OBERNOLTE: Among the facilities that I represent are the Mojave National Preserve and the Joshua Tree National Park. As I'm sure you are aware, both of those facilities have enormous deferred maintenance problems, and I can tell you from firsthand experience, having seen them, how desperate that need is…I'm hoping that I can get your commitment to help us address those deferred maintenance issues, because neither of those facilities was awarded any project funding in the first two rounds of the Great American Outdoor Act.

SECRETARY HAALAND: Thank you, Congressman, that is very well noted. I appreciate knowing about that… I will be happy to work with you, and we'll see what we can do.

Since passage of the Great American Outdoors Act, which established the National Parks and Public Land Legacy Restoration Fund to support deferred maintenance projects on federal lands in August 2020, neither Joshua Tree National Park nor the Mojave National Preserve have received dedicated funding for deferred maintenance projects. Mojave National Preserve currently has $118 million in deferred maintenance costs, while Joshua Tree National Park has $65.92 million. Meanwhile, the parks received over 3 million visitors combined in 2019, with Joshua Tree ranking as the 10th most visited national park in the United States.

Joshua Tree National Park's Cottonwood Visitor Center, currently a double-wide trailer, serves as the introduction point to the park for more than 1.5 million visitors annually. The site lacks space to display meaningful exhibits or information on the park and has inadequate parking and restrooms for the volume of tourists it receives. The Black Rock Canyon Campground is also well overdue for upgrades and improvements to reduce regular flooding, improve substandard roads, upgrade the sewage system, and modernize the interagency fire center complex. Likewise, at Mojave National Preserve, major road retrofitting is needed to account for crossings of the endangered desert tortoise and to make the road safer for drivers.

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