Natural Resources Budget Formulation

Funding Sources

The NPS's natural resource funding needs are met through a variety of sources, most from the NPS's appropriation titled Operation of the National Park Service (ONPS). The NPS receives a budget from Congress by appropriation and each appropriation is subdivided using the activities, subactivities, and program components delineated below. The structure of categories most relevant to natural resource activities as of FY 2000 follows. (These categories may be adjusted, but generally are stable over several years.)

In addition to displaying and requesting funding by the above categories, the budget justification forwarded to Congress displays how ONPS funding is divided among dedicated line items and among parks. The allocations to line item NPS programs and to parks may and often do include funding from more than one of the above program components.

Examples of line item funding categories, which can be revised to reflect new or revised programs, include:

Air Quality
Everglades Research
Everglades Task Force Support
Geographic Information Systems
Geologic Resources Program
Inventory and Monitoring
Native and Exotic Species Management
Natural Resource Preservation Program
Oil Pollution Act
Water Resource Programs

With the exception of Everglades Research, the line items for natural resource-related programs are managed by Washington offices, and fund a combination of project funding and Washington program offices that provide direct assistance to parks. Other Washington, regional, and support office assistance is funded through general ONPS allocations that are reflected in funding under the Resource Stewardship activity. In addition to the above, funding from the appropriation of the Bureau of Land Management is available for fire management-related activities.

Purposes of Funding Sources

Each of the natural resource funding sources meets a specific purpose, described below.

Park Natural Resource Base

Park base funds provide salaries and support (supplies, travel, contracted assistance, etc.) for permanent and seasonal park personnel and the long-term, recurring activities that they conduct. Priorities resulting from resource management planning and the park's strategic plan should determine the annual natural resource allocation from the park base, as well as influence requests and priorities for increase requests.

Generally, park base-funded natural resource activities are funded as a part of parks' allocated portion of ONPS. Parks receive a single ONPS/Park Management allocation from the Washington Budget Office through their regional office and expend it on subactivities and program components under Park Management, as appropriate, without further Washington-level control. In some cases, Congress may specifically request reports on funds allocated for specific purposes, in which case reports on such spending will be requested.

Regional and Support Office Natural Resource Base

Regional and support office base funds provide salaries and support for permanent and temporary regional office natural resource management personnel, and in some cases, maintain a regional or cluster-based project funding program. Such programs are often cyclic and address natural resource needs that are intermittent rather than continuous, as well as individual park projects that park budgets are unable to support. Where available, regional and support office project funding generally addresses projects that are not addressed by servicewide project funding sources, including projects that fall under the minimal funding amounts for servicewide funds.

Servicewide Natural Resource and Related Bases

1. Servicewide base funds provide salaries and support for permanent and temporary Washington Office natural resource personnel. In some cases, servicewide base funds also support nonrecurring, park, multi-park, and servicewide natural resource management projects.

2. Servicewide Project Funding

Typical servicewide project fund sources include:

Natural Resource Preservation Program
Geographic Information Systems
Water Resources
Inventory and Monitoring (for inventories only)

In addition, a portion of the original Natural Resource Preservation Program was transferred from the NPS to the U.S. Geological Survey, Biological Resources Division when research responsibilities were transferred from NPS. This funding is used to fund biological research; the NPS identifies funding priorities and works closely with USGS to maintain this funding source and its use consistent with its use before the transfer.

Information contained in the park's resource management plan and its strategic plan help guide the determination of park project needs. These are also reflected in the PMIS database that contains project needs for all NPS program areas. The PMIS database complements the OFS database in providing information about specific project needs for the NPS; this information can be used in budget formulation and justification.

Each of these targeted servicewide funding sources has its own eligibility, priority-setting, and funding rules. The Associate Director, Natural Resource Stewardship and Science, is responsible for allocations from each of these servicewide base funds, and regions and parks receiving such allocations may not reallocate them without prior Washington Office approval. Guidance for allocation of servicewide funds for natural resource projects is found within the annual consolidated project funding call. The general process and eligibility are contained in appendices to this section. An advisory group to the Associate Director periodically reviews project funding procedures and makes recommendations for any needed changes.

With respect to facility-related projects, natural resource fund sources are not used to fund projects that may be more appropriately funded elsewhere within the NPS budget. For example, facility-related projects in excess of $500,000 are appropriately funded as construction projects and will not be funded by natural resource fund sources. Construction of facilities specific to direct natural resource preservation, such as exclosure fences, may be funded with natural resource funding. Maintenance fund sources are available for funding maintenance of facilities, such as buildings, fences, trails, and in-use campgrounds, including the maintenance of natural resource-related facilities that may have be constructed using natural resource fund sources.

Other Fund Sources

There are additional fund sources that may be applicable to meet natural resource-related project needs. These include Construction (projects over $500,000), Cultural Resource Management/Collections Management (covers natural and cultural collections), fee revenues, Social Science Program, various maintenance funding sources, and Overflight Management, as well as various non-NPS funding sources, including donations and funding from other agencies.

Natural Resources Budget Formulation Table of Contents | RM#77 Table of Contents