National Parks fast falling into disrepair

[PfcHammer]

http://csmonitor.com/2004/0525/p01s02-usgn.html

National Parks fast falling into disrepair

By Brad Knickerbocker | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

<snip>

The National Park Service is a mammoth organization. With some 20,000 professionals and 125,000 volunteers, it oversees 388 parks, monuments, battlefields, historic sites, lakeshores, recreation areas, scenic rivers and trails, and the White House. The number of park units has nearly doubled since 1970, and annual visits now total nearly 300 million. All of this costs some $2.3 billion a year.

But critics say (and administration officials acknowledge) that's not enough to keep the resources in good shape while meeting the recreational and educational expectations of visitors. According to the General Accounting Office, the backlog of deferred maintenance at national parks has grown to something between $4 billion and $6.8 billion.

Speaking at Everglades National Park the first summer of his presidency, President Bush pledged to "restore and renew America's national parks." Since then, however, the administration and Congress have budgeted $662 million in new funding for such improvements. That sounds like a lot, but spread over four budget cycles (2002-2005) it's inadequate to meet the need, say watchdog groups.

The private National Parks Conservation Association says $600 million in additional funds are needed every year to adequately chip away at the park maintenance backlog. Among the problems outlined in the association's recent report:

<snip>

[ezee]

1. Perhaps after shrub boy has us

pay to rebuild Iraq's prison and there schools , he can get some of them to come over here and rebuild our country. Or perhaps all the illegal immigrants can do it for using all our resources.

[Rebellious Republican]

2. Fran Manila is the National Park Service Director, guess who

her old boss was. Jeb Bush, she was the Florida Park Service Director. She just about ruined one of the finest park systems in America. It is still feeling the pain she created. She was despised by most of the parks staff, Shes a Jeb Protege'.
:argh:

[LesTalkMoreDo]

3. It's them damn snowmobilers

Tearing up the snow on the roads they drive on and T-boning bison with their snowmobiles. I wonder how many bison entrails are found on the road when the snow melts. Look for the bison hair on the bumpers of their sleds and haul them down to headquarters. Get them up against the wall!

[Eye and Monkey]

4. Planned - it's another step in the plan for privatization.

[Rebellious Republican]

5. Bingo, that is exactly what Fran Manila tried to do down here.......

Fortunately there were some Florida Lawmakers that opposed privatization. That includes Republican lawmakers, seeing how Florida is under republican control.
Here is some interesting reading on Park Privatization, the first is the readers digest version of the second link, which is White Paper done on the subject
http://www.tnpeer.org/News/no_walk_whitepaper.html

http://www.tnpeer.org/State_Park/no_walk_in_park.pdf

[Eye and Monkey]

7. "produced no savings, reduced revenue, deferred costs, damaged viability"

The "readers digest"" version contains a summary that works for just about every initiative misundertaken by BushCo -

"closures have produced no real savings, reduced state revenue, and deferred long-term costs to future taxpayers while disrupting park operation, inconveniencing the public, and seriously damaging the long-term viability"

[crossroads]

6. We have to rebuild Iraq first!

If the country is not left bankrupt, maybe they will find a few bucks for our parks! Sad! After all, Shrub's priority is playing war games right now - fvck the park system!
:shrug: