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Quoted from appended article:
Clement {Conservation Director for Friends of Acadia} agreed. "We never want our funding to replace what is basically congressional responsibility" to fund the national parks, she said Tuesday.
Friends of Acadia is your quintessential National Parks Service "partner" organization. They actively support fee-demo, going so far as to sell park passes. They seek out corporate sponsorship for Acadia NP. They fundraise for the park and generally embrace a wide range of free-market solutions. In a nutshell, they play by today's rules. In exchange, they have earned a seat at the table. (* see note)
So is it any surprise that funding for Acadia National Park is now being slashed? What better park to DEFUND than Acadia??? Where better to shift the burden of resource funding from allocated tax dollars and replace those dollars using the preferred free-market funding mechanisms of 1) user-fees 2) volunteerism 3) partnerships 4) corporate sponsorships and 5) private philanthropy?? Friends of Acadia will be there to take up the slack, won't they!?
To Ms. Clement and indeed to all, I ask:
What is the mission of the current Administration if not to replace what are congressional responsibilities with free-market solutions? What are the desired outcomes of their budget cutting, if not to promote and facilitate privatization and commercialization?? Is it better to help the Administration achieve its goals, as do the folks at Friends of Acadia??? Or is it more productive in the long-run to fight the SOBs who are destroying America, as do such truly excellent groups as Friends of Yosemite Valley, Friends of BC Parks, and Friends of the Clearwater?
Scott
"We will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends." -Martin Luther King Jr.
"We will remember not the words of our natural enemies, but the unforced capitulations of our former friends." -Scott Silver
(*NOTE: Friends of Acadia gives frequent congressional testimony and has testified in support of fee-demo on several occasions.)
--- begin quoted ---
March 17, 2004
Acadia braces for budget cuts Officials see greater reductions in '05
By Liz Chapman, Of the NEWS Staff
ACADIA NATIONAL PARK - Park officials on Tuesday announced $500,000 in
budget cuts that will reduce staff and services at the park this summer
and warned visitors to brace themselves for "dramatic cuts" next year
if park funding doesn't improve soon."As hard as the cuts are this
year, they still are the easier cuts - 'easier' is in quotes - compared
to what we will have to do next year," Superintendent Sheridan Steel
said Tuesday.
"If we have a similar situation next year, there will be further cuts; quite dramatic cuts, probably," Steel said.
The budget cuts announced Tuesday include a hiring freeze for all
permanent full-time employees; less maintenance and upkeep of park
property, including public restrooms; taking vehicles and equipment
that need repairs out of service for the foreseeable future; and
cutting educational programs led by park rangers.
The National Park Service budget for fiscal year 2005, which begins
Oct. 1., shows no significant increase in funding for Acadia, the
officials said.
"I'm not optimistic that it's going to be any better next year," Steel said.
Once this year's cuts are factored into the park's operational budget, officials will have to find new cuts next year.
Assistant Superintendent Len Bobinchock said he cannot recall when the
park made similar reductions in employees and services in his 15 years
at Acadia.
"I think we're going to make it through the summer," he said. "[Acadia]
won't be as nice as in previous years, but I think visitors will still
enjoy the park."
Acadia is a popular part of the national park system, attracting
millions of visitors a year and ranking ninth among the most visited
parks in the United States, according to 2003 NPS visitor figures.
In a major new federal study issued Tuesday, the nonpartisan National
Parks Conservation Association presented a bleak outlook for the future
of America's most beautiful places.
Not only are parks across the nation cutting services, access, hours,
rangers and educational programs, but lack of funding and staffing also
has allowed historic treasures to be pillaged at some parks and illicit
drugs planted along side the mighty sequoias in one of the country's
most treasured national parks.
"America's national park rangers have become endangered species," NPCA
President Thomas Kiernan said in releasing the Endangered Rangers
study. "President Bush - and some of his predecessors - made strong
commitments to the American people about protecting our national parks.
"But when push comes to shove, the parks are underfunded year after year by Washington."
The NPCA called for Congress to immediately increase funding by $50
million to offset Homeland Security costs that have been drained from
the NPS budget, and increase annual funding by $600 million to ensure
the park service can adequately protect and maintain the almost 400
national parks and historic sites in the system.
Bobinchock said Acadia is more fortunate than most national parks
because it has a sizable cadre of summer workers that gives the park
some flexibility when making spending cuts.
Many parks are cutting full-time permanent jobs, Bobinchock said.
Although Acadia won't be hiring full-time employees any time soon, and
the seasonal work force will be reduced, there are no layoffs planned
at this time, he said.
Stephanie Clement, conservation director for Friends of Acadia, said
the Bar Harbor philanthropy is "very much" concerned about what looks
like a lasting trend in national park funding.
Friends groups across the nation annually raise about $100 million for
national parks, but none of them do it to replace public funding,
according to the NPCA report.
Clement agreed. "We never want our funding to replace what is basically
congressional responsibility" to fund the national parks, she said
Tuesday.
Friends of Acadia has raised millions for the Mount Desert Island park.
The money helps finance trail maintenance and improvement,
diesel-powered public buses to reduce congestion and pollution on MDI,
and a separate summer work force that augments Acadia's staff, among
many other efforts.
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- Privatization 
