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One of the very best articles you're likely to read on the issue of National Park Privatization appears in the current (February 2004) edition of Trailer Life. The article is not available online but is available today in magazine racks and on library shelves.
The article begins with a pull-out quote by National Park Service Director, Fran Mainella in which she claims "media reports have mischaracterized our efforts as targeting a broad sweep of federal jobs for outsourcing". She is wrong. The media has not mischaracterized her intentions.
The media has, however, failed to understand that the Bush Administration's National Park Privatization agenda goes FAR beyond the outsourcing of federal jobs. The agenda is about nothing less than commercializing, privatizing and motorizing those parks -- as this Trailer Life article makes clear!!!
What follows are direct quotes from the article. Read on and decide for yourself what exactly is at stake. Then decide how you will help put a halt to this agenda.
Scott
Article is titled: "Private Hands on Public Lands"
--- begin direct quotes ---
"Privatization will enhance the visiting experience in our national
parks by improving customer service and conserving resources that have
uses that are more important in the park system... This means a better
park experience for motorhome and other outdoor recreation enthusiasts"
-Congressman George Radanovich (R-CA)
(Sponsor of American Recreation Coalition's Gateway Community Bill)
http://www.threerivers.com/nagc-news.htm
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"Every national park everywhere in the country is hurting for capital.
But the private sector can come in and put in the kind of facilities
that customers want, and at the same time, pay a licensing or rental
fee to the park to generate more funds for infrastructure."
-Homer Staves, private campground-industry consultant
(Vice President KOA- retired, member American Recreation Coalition)
http://www.fmca.com/fmc2001/febmag/news.asp
Staves, for his part, also notes that consumers' expectations are
changing. While there will always be demand for rustic campgrounds, he
says, RVers are increasingly seeking parks with more upscale campground
amenities. "When the public wants 50-amp hookups, paved roads and
deluxe sites,"he says, "then that should be provided by the private
sector, using private capital."
Staves, the campground industry consultant, believe he's already seen
the writing on the wall. "We just have to face the fact that the
National Parks are not going to get enough money from the federal
government."
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"We believe there should be an opportunity for those companies that
have expertise to consider some of those public domains... In the long
run the public will be better served by people who have the know how."
- Jim Rogers, President and CEO Kampgrounds of America
(Member American Recreation Coalition's Recreation Roundtable)
http://www.funoutdoors.com/rndtable.html
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"Outsourcing or public/private partnerships have proven to be very
successful when the best interests of these in the forefront of the
partnership."
-Dennis Szefel, President Delaware North Companies
(Member American Recreation Coalition's Recreation Roundtable)
http://www.funoutdoors.com/rndtable.html
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"I think we have to guard against any knee-jerk overreaction to the
process that's now underway," says Derrick Crandall, president of the
American Recreation Coalition (ARC), referring to current studies that
will help the federal government ascertain which NPS positions should
be considered for outsourcing.
-Derrick Crandall, American Recreation Coalition
http://www.funoutdoors.com/facts.html
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"The BlueRibbon Coalition, a Pocatello, Idaho-based national recreation
access advocacy group also supports competitive outsourcing, provided
that planning, management and law enforcement continue to be handled by
government staff, says Bill Dart, BlueRibbon's public lands director.
"Our primary interest is in preserving access in a responsible fashion."
-Bill Dart, Director BlueRibbon Coalition
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"Outsourcing is an appropriate tool when appropriately used. But that is not what the Administration is doing."
- Thomas Kiernan, President National Parks Conservation Association.
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"It's just change for change sake without cost savings and at high risk to the public and the taxpayer."
-Dave Uberuaga, Superintendent Mount Rainier NP.
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"Wade also worries that private contractors seeking NPS work may
low-ball initial contract opportunities, then up their fees the next
time around, eroding the savings that were supposed to result from
outsourcing in the first place."
-J.W. "Bill" Wade, retired superintendent Shenandoah NP
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"The Bush administration is ceding control to corporations, so they end
up running public operations for their own benefit rather than for the
benefit of the public at large."
-Jeff Ruch, Executive Director, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility.
(QUOTED from one of my own 1999 broadcast messages)
ARC's president, Derrick Crandall put it so well when he said: "We
accept that there is no real free lunch, but when we pay for lunch we
don't expect to starve." (Trailer Life, May 1986 in an article
entitled: "Pricing the Public Lands")
It is the last line of that article which really drives the point home:
"Now is the time for RVer to decide how much they will pay, and for
what services, and to convey their thought to their elected congress
people and senators."
Our elected representatives have spent the past 13 years hashing out
the details with the wreckreation industry. They now know how to
"Price the Public Lands" and exactly how much motorized recreationists,
RVers, resort developers, ski area concessionaires and the other
special interests represented by ARC are prepared to pay for what they
want. They've also concluded, that there is no real money to be had in
continuing to allow free access to raw nature or in preserving
Wilderness for the sake of wildness.
IT'S LUNCH TIME ... and today, everything is a la carte!
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- Privatization 
