Funding will go towards the rehabilitation and seismic retrofit of the Mammoth Hotel Guest Room Wings at Yellowstone National Park. (Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel photo)

U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke announced nearly $21.3 million in funding approved to rebuild critical national park infrastructure in Wyoming.

The money will go towards the rehabilitation and seismic retrofit of the Mammoth Hotel Guest Room Wings at Yellowstone National Park.

This is part of $256 million going to a list of projects across the National Park Service to address dire maintenance and repair needs that contribute to the $11.6 billion backlog currently facing the nation's parks.

Roads, bridges, trails, water systems and visitor centers — even bathrooms, campgrounds and drinking fountains — are all part of this critical, but often unnoticed, infrastructure framework. In 2017, 330 million people visited the 417 NPS sites across the country. The NPS completed more than $650 million in maintenance and repair work in Fiscal Year 2017, but aging facilities, high visitation, and resource constraints have kept the maintenance backlog between $11 billion and $12 billion since 2010.

Today's top stories

Caltrans, Crews Working to Repair Highway Landslides

NAPA Urges Drivers to 'Watch For Us' During National Work Zone Awareness Week

Landscapers, Contractors, Dealers Can 'Test Before They Invest' in Equipment in Equip Expo's 30-Acre Outdoor Demo Yard

Terex Utilities Announces Availability of TL45 On Mini Tracked Carrier for Lifting in Restricted Access Job Sites

Arizona Chip Factory Will Expand With $6B in New Funds

John Deere Launches Nationwide Search for First-Ever Chief Tractor Officer

UDOT to Implement Digital Construction Technology

New $140M Biogas Facility for SacSewer Coming to Sacramento