National Parks Suffering From Lack of Funds

The Washington Post ^ | 04/14/2002 | Eric Pianin

[cogitator]

During the 2000 campaign, Bush said the national park system was in "worse shape than ever" and vowed to erase a huge, $4.9 billion backlog of maintenance and road qimprovement projects within five years. So far, the administration has managed to make only a tiny dent in that backlog, while many of the nation's most prominent parks continue to suffer from years of budget parsimony.

[cogitator]

I hate to say it, but I think the answer is to substantially raise user fees for major parks (which would slightly reduce the user pressures on them) and to distribute the funds around the Park Service.

[SGCOS]

Of course, diverting billions from Congressional Pork spending into our National Parks wouldn't help.

[scholar]

...the answer is to substantially raise user fees for major parks ...

I guess I have to agree. I live close to the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. In the summer, the beach looks like one giant ashtray because of inconsiderate smokers dumping butts. I can't imagine why anyone would want to lay on the beach, it's so ugly. I read one year that the park service removed 2 TON of cigarette butts--this has got to cost some major $$.

I am a smoker but I find no excuse for this.

[cogitator]

Of course, diverting billions from Congressional Pork spending into our National Parks wouldn't help.

Why yes it would. Unfortunately we have to pry the pork money out of Congressional hands with something stronger than a crowbar.

[SteamshipTime]

The tragedy of the commons: if no one really owns it, no one really takes care of it.

[Calculus_of_Consent]

I just took my kids camping at Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky. The park was beautiful, well maintained and patrolled regularly by rangers. The cost for camping and touring the caves was minimal. I would have been willing to pay twice as much.

Now the souvenirs my kids forced me to buy were outrageous.

[scholar]

Think of all the dumb @$$ lawsuits that have been filed against the National Park Service. These people go to a wilderness area and sue because they were stupid, were injured and there were no WARNING signs--duh!! Guess they need signs that say "Don't jump off this cliff--may cause bodily harm."

[jimt]

As the National Park Service has largely been taken over by enviro-nazis as opposed to conservationists, I'd like to see a thorough and independent audit before additional funding. Of course NPS would NEVER overload themselves with bureaucrats, consultants and "studies" while neglecting maintenance. No, never, of course!

[scholar]

while neglecting maintenance.

Check my previous post about maintenance. Not proposing more taxpayer dollars. Let the people who are out there using and abusing the system pay for the damage they cause through higher user fees.

[T. P. Pole]

Remember, this is the normal method of government agencies. I think it is Rush who calls it the Washington Monument effect. When there is a threat of them not getting an increase in funding, they react by closing the highest visible piece of their department.

Last year when they didn't get a large of an increase in the roads budget, the highway folks here in Wisconsin didn't cut bonuses, or put off building a bikepath along a interstate highway bridge, instead, they closed the rest stops.

[Tiger28]

i agree! in addition to raising the admission price- they should make sure they collect from everybody- as someone who has been to many national parks i would say almost half the time there is no ranger on duty at the entrance

[.38sw]

So there isn't enough money to properly maintain the National Parks. Then why is the Federal Government creating more National Monuments, which cost money to administer and maintain, and purchasing more private land?

[Cowgirl]

I've never seen an actual park ranger or Conservation employee actually clean up anything, they always use volunteers. I wouldn't give them a cent.

[Calculus_of_Consent]

I've never seen an actual park ranger or Conservation employee actually clean up anything, they always use volunteers. I wouldn't give them a cent.

Give credit where credit is due. I haven’t been to that many national parks, but that hasn’t been my experience.

And what’s wrong with using volunteers? If they can get someone to do something for free without using my money, more power to them.

[countrydummy]

I totally disagree! This would not allow so many to enjoy the lands, they simply could not afford to do so! Instead STOP FURTHER Land Acquistions and do it NOW!

If the NPS does not have the funds to take care of what it already owns, then stop their push to take and take more private lands for more parks! Let it be so until all of our now National Parks are brought up to the standards they should be, were there is enough service personal to take care of the already owned lands, and where this maintainence will be maintained!

[Cowgirl]

I live in the middle of a National Forest. We have trash dumps in it that is are least fifty years old. I have never seen them haul away a thing and yet their job is to manage the land. Why should we pay them to do nothing but tell us what not to do and then use volunteers to do the actual work? They aren't public servants, they are dictators. In a few years, I doubt the public will even be allowed on "their" land.

[sauropod]

They aren't now, CG.

'Pod

[SteamshipTime]

My wife and I hopped a gate in a coastal Georgia national park one fine Saturday morning. When the ranger found us hiking along a service road, he advised that the park was only open 9 to 5 weekdays. He told us, without a trace of irony, that we could be fined for trespassing.

[cogitator]

So there isn't enough money to properly maintain the National Parks. Then why is the Federal Government creating more National Monuments, which cost money to administer and maintain, and purchasing more private land?

As I understand it, there's a lot more to a National Park than a National Monument, so they cost considerably more to maintain (the infrastructure requirements for NMs are lower). I don't know how much private land the Feds are purchasing to create NMs: I seem to remember that the most recently-created NMs were converted in name from BLM lands that were already federally-owned. (I'm probably only remembering some cases and not other cases where the government did purchase private land.)

[cogitator]

If the NPS does not have the funds to take care of what it already owns, then stop their push to take and take more private lands for more parks! Let it be so until all of our now National Parks are brought up to the standards they should be, were there is enough service personal to take care of the already owned lands, and where this maintainence will be maintained!

A previous poster also referred to this. What/where are recent private land purchases that have been turned into National Parks or Monuments, and how much was the outlay? I'm asking because I don't know.