Posted on 01/27/2005 11:21:36 AM PST by NormsRevenge
FRESNO, Calif. (AP) - National parks in California are so underfunded and understaffed that they've eliminated educational programs and are turning away thousands of children each year.
According to a study this week from the National Parks Conservation Association, roughly 80,000 kindergartners through 12th graders participate in educational programs each year at parks such as Joshua Tree, Yosemite and Lassen Volcanic. That amounts to only 1 percent of the state's 7 million public and private school students.
"Part of providing a high-quality education to our children is ensuring access to the unique learning opportunities in our national parks," said Deborah DeMeo, the association's California desert field representative.
NPCA, a nonprofit advocacy group, estimates that the 11 parks would require a $7 million increase in their operating budgets to meet current demand. The national park system as a whole suffers from a shortfall of more than $600 million, according to the NPCA study, prompting parks around the country to cut programs and staff.
In 2003, for example, staff shortages forced Lava Beds National Monument to cut educational programs that had served 2,442 students, according to the study.
Holly Bundock, a National Park Service spokeswoman, said cutbacks have been so severe that nature walks, science workshops and wildlife talks have been axed. The 11 parks examined have 149 staff devoted to interpretive programs, but they'd need twice as many to provide adequate services, the study found.
"Frankly, the emphasis has been on maintenance backlogs, which is visitor facilities and restoration that everybody enjoys, but education is still one of our primary missions," Bundock said. "We'd love more money, but we do what we can with what we've got."
Science educators say parks' financial problems result in wasted teaching opportunities in California's bountiful mountains, deserts and valleys.
"National parks offer the ultimate outdoor classroom," said James M. Andre, director of the Sweeney Granite Mountains Desert Research Center operated by the University of California, Riverside. "Numerous national reports highlight the field experience as most effective means for teaching science and developing an awareness of our natural world."
---
On The Net:
http://www.npca.org/report/education.asp
Dem solution: raise taxes on those able to afford it. For the childrennnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn!
However, by the end of the year over 80 California parks will be Wi-Fi.
California tree huggers are ecstatic over this news. None of the taxpaying offsprings will get to trample any wildlife vegetation or touch the tree getting them dirty.
I am sure their retirement checks are fine. Seems we pay more for people not to work then to work. All the "public land" is simply a burden for generations.
HA....all those STATE funded EDUCATIONAL Field Trips cancelled, huh? NOW the teachers will have to TEACH, I guess....and the parents will have to take their kids to the PARKS themselves.....too bad.
There will never be enough money to fund all of the government agencies and programs to the levels the special interests would like. Never. And yet, there are always proposals to expand programs, create new programs, designate more wildnerness, parks and open space. It is insanity.
Unappreciated-by-the-Evironmentalists *ping*
Yeah, I've seen these kids at Yosemite. They are usually housed in the "ghetto" known as Curry Village; spend most of their time in gift shops or pumping vending machines with coins; and rarely get out of the urban-like crowded valley floor.
Before the invention of the word "environment" (in the present understanding of the word*) there were programs that actually taught hydrology, geology, the water cycle, marine biology, astronomy... the list was endless, and I availed myself of it extensively at the California Academy of Sciences, among other places.
The word activism had yet to be invented. It was assumed (correctly) that education and common sense would guide individuals to apply knowledge from the inside out, without demonstrations, threats, shouting or coercion of any kind.
And there was zero government involvement. The perfect learning model.
Isn't it remarkable? The old model existed silently, almost invisibly, but it was effective and has since disappeared.
To be replaced by leeches applying energy and effort to separate the taxpayer even further from his wallet.
< /rant >
*Environment, a mythical club with which to beat senseless the general public, often with the help of government, and to restrict or eliminate the product of the innovative and the productive.
LETS TRY TEACHING THEM HOW TO READ AND WRITE FIRST. Half can not speak English , how's a field trip gonna help
But most parents aren't qualified to teach their children about Nature and those that are were probably Boy Scouts and they won't be GAY!
I guess Mommy and Daddy taking them to one of our National Parks during vacation is just out of the question?
Unappreciated-by-the-Evironmentalists *ping*
Excellence in Ranting!!! Encore!! Bravo! (No, I'm SERIOUS!)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.