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National Park visitation is in record-setting steep decline and everyone with horse in this race is weaving a self-serving spin to explain why fewer people are visiting the parks. Those who want to privatize the National Parks, find justification in the data. Those who want to commercialize the parks, find justification in the data. Those who want to motorize the park find justification while those who are determined to Disneyfy the parks for fun and profit, are elated. I offer this warning --- declining visitation is going to be used as an excuse for doing all kinds of
harm to the National Park System. The fate of America's Crown Jewels hangs in the balance.
National Park visitation is in steep decline and almost NO ONE is doing anything to put things right.
National Park visitation is in steep decline and almost NO ONE is speaking the truth. That's because the National Park Service is engaged in a myriad of conflicts of interest with the recreation and travel tourism industries. That's because the privatization of America's National Parks is a high priority for the current administration and because those in and out of government promoting this privatization agenda will use any tool available to them to advance their nefarious efforts.
National Park visitation is in steep decline and there is a correct explanation for what is happening. There is a way to reverse this trend and it can be done any day the President and Congress cares to do so. So far they have chosen not to do so.
In the final paragraph of the appended article Representative Peter DeFazio (D-OR) gets very close to the truth. It's not the complete truth, but it is an infinitely better approximation of the truth than is the drivel to which we are exposed daily coming from the mouths of those with horses in this race or from those in the press who chose not to look for the story behind the facade.
National Park visitation is in steep decline and a great many people are lying about the cause. A great many interest groups are exploiting this situation -- a situation created as a direct consequence of anti-social decisions made by Congress, the President, the recreation industry and federal land managers.
Fortunately, the damage these people have done can be reversed. If, however, the damage is left undone or is permitted to increase, then the privatizers will success and this will be the last generation to know what once was the greatest National Park System in the history of the world.
Scott
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((( SLIGHTLY CONDENSED FROM THE ORIGINAL )))
JANUARY 12, 2006
FEDERAL PARKS & RECREATION
VOLUME 25 NUMBER 1
Website: http://www.plnfpr.com.
VISITATION TO NATIONAL PARKS DIPS, DESPITE RECORDS CHANGE
The national parks as a whole this year are headed for one of the
steepest decreases in visitation in recent memory. But thanks to
bookkeeping strategy the decrease will not appear too precipitous.
That strategy counts visitors to the Washington, D.C., Mall for the
Cherry Blossom Festival as visitors to the National Park System. Until
this year Cherry Blossom tourists had not been counted as national park
visitors.
Through August 2006 the official decrease in visitation to the national
parks is 1.9 percent, down 3.8 million visits in the
January-through-August time period from 2005. Some 193.8 million
people visited the national parks for the period in 2006 and 197.6
million in 2005. But 2.1 million of the 2006 visitors came from a
change in counting Cherry Blossom Festival tourists on the Washington
Mall. "They (NPS managers) decided they wanted to count people who
entered the mall for the Cherry Blossom Festival," said Tom Wade of the
NPS Public Use Statistics Office. "Without that the National Park
System would have experienced a dramatic drop in visitation in 2006."
The decrease in visitation to the National Park System is an
increasingly sore subject with the recreation industry; it depends on
visitors to the parks for business. The experts name several culprits
for the decrease in visitation. Most agree that massive commercial
recreation theme parks such as the Disney resorts draw tens of millions
of tourists each year that might otherwise visit parks. For another
they note that the Park Service is not set up to compete with private
corporations in terms of advertising.
However, at a Sept. 13, 2006, hearing of the House subcommittee, the
NPS witness, Chris Jarvi, associate director for Partnerships, said a
new Park Service policy could improve visitation. Jarvi pointed out a
passage in the policy that says, "The Service will support and promote
appropriate visitor use through cooperation and coordination with the
tourism industry."
That means, he said, NPS will work with the tourism industry and park
concessioners. "Finally, the NPS will use this collaboration as an
opportunity to encourage and showcase environmental leadership by the
NPS and by the tourism industry," he said.
A Park Service spokeswoman said this week the agency would step up its
communications with the American people over the next decade as it
prepares for a Centennial Celebration. "Right now we are working with
parks to celebrate the centennial and to connect people to the parks,"
she said. But the outdoor recreation industry under the leadership of
the American Recreation Coalition says a Park Service mind-set that
favors protection of the parks over use is an important factor. More
than 80 groups wrote Secretary of Interior Dirk Kempthorne Aug. 30,
2006, and asked him to help reverse that mind-set. "We believe one key
constraint on visits has been agency policies, attitudes and practices,
where the value of enjoyment of the parks is consistently undervalued
and the diversity of the national park system is obscured," the groups
wrote Kempthorne.
Complaining that the overall national demand for recreation is
increasing exponentially, the groups said the Park Service was
established in part to meet that demand. "The creators of the National
Park Service understood the value of visits to our parks and sought to
encourage and provide infrastructure designed for memorable visits,"
said the groups. "We find this understanding and action lacking
today." Signing the letter were such varied groups as America Outdoors,
the Back Country Horsemen of America, the Boat Owners Association of
the United States, the National Alliance of Gateway Communities, the
SUV Owners of America, and several state snowmobile associations.
The leading human-powered recreation alliance, the Outdoor Industry
Association, did not sign the letter. By definition its members sell
to a public that prefers to visit less-crowded venues.
Some legislators believe entrance fee increases are having a
deleterious impact on visitation. Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) wrote
Kempthorne December 29 complaining of a doubling of entrance fees to
Crater Lake National Park ($10 to $20) and a 50 percent increase at
Lava Beds National Monument ($10 to $15.) "It doesn't make sense to
increase park fees while national parks are struggling to attract
visitors," DeFazio said. "I am concerned that the increase in fees at
Crater Lake will discourage regular visits by Oregon families."
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- Privatization 
