With a new year dawning across the National Park System, here's a look at some things we'd like to see in 2015/NPS photo of sunrise from the Flamingo Visitor Center in Everglades National Park
A new year is just beginning to shed its first blush, so the time couldn't be better to compile a list of things we'd like to see happen across the National Park System in 2015, so let's jump right in!
* Recognition by, as well as action, by Congress that the National Park Service deserves more than one-fifthteenth of 1 percent of the federal budget to maintain "America's Best Idea."
If the Park Service is to truly grow, and move beyond just maintaining the status quo, at many of its units, it needs more resources, both in terms of staff and budget. As just oe example, the budget and human resources are so tight at Mount Rainier National Park that just one person calling in sick or heading home to deal with an emergency can affect whether the Paradise area is open for snow play during the winter months.
* A quick and speedy pinpointing, and blocking, of the source of pollution flowing into the waters of Congaree National Park in South Carolina.
* Caution by Park Service officials in instituting fees.
Four dollars to sleep on the ground in a park's backcountry. Five dollars per person to see a natural phenomena along the shores of Lake Superior. Fifteen dollars per person to enter an urban park. These are some of the fees enacted, and proposed, across the park system. They point back to our first item, that the parks are underfunded. As a result, they're looking to raise existing fees, and come up with new ones, to make ends meet.
Some smaller units of the park system are bucking the push to higher entrance fees. At Fort Laramie National Historic Site in Wyoming officials have asked for permission to do away with their entrance fee, rather than to charge $15 per person, as they believe such a move would be a money loser, not a money maker.
At a time when the National Park Service is trying to build visitation to the parks, higher fees are a disincentive.
* Hope that Wild, the film starring Reece Witherspoon about Cheryl Strayed's trek on the Pacific Crest Trail, will encourage more park visitors into the park system's magnificent backcountry.
Getting into the outdoors is necessary for the human condition. As nature writer Gary Ferguson wrote recently in an op-ed for the Los Angeles Times:
Back in 1906, celebrated psychologist and educator G. Stanley Hall ' the man who coined the term 'adolescence' ' wrote that kids age 3 to 8, especially those in the 'urban hothouse,' must be exposed to nature. They should be taken 'to visit field, forest, hill, shore, the water, flowers, animals, the true homes of childhood '¦ for the very soul and body cry out for a more active, objective life, and to know nature and man at first hand. These two staples, stories and nature, by these informal methods of the home and the environment constitute fundamental education.'
A century on, however, kids are even less tutored by nature. A 2003 survey of 830 mothers by Rhonda Clements revealed that 70% of the women said they played outdoors every day when they were kids, yet only 31% of their children played outside daily.
* That the National Park Service finds a way to subtley acknowledge donors, as a rider in the year-end massive Defense authorization bill directed.
Philanthropic giving is critical to the national parks, there's no question. But acknowledging that giving shouldn't turn parks into promotions for corporations and foundations.
* That more areas in the National Park System that are treated as wilderness, and qualify for official wilderness designation, gain it.
* A bitterly cold winter for northern Wisconsin and Minnesota so an ice bridge will tie Isle Royale National Park to the Canadian mainland so some wolves can bring a refreshing mix of genes to the 8-9 wolves on the island.
* Development of a solid, all-inclusive plan for celebration of the NPS centennial in 2016, one that will encourage renewed interest in the parks by more than just die-hard park fans.
Comments
That's a very good list. I'd also like to see a Maine Woods National Park and Preserve, continued restoration of water flow into the Everglades, Rob Bishop (R-Oil & Gas) to call it a career, and an end to that appalling elk "hunt" in Grand Teton NP.
I'd like to see national parks run more like libraries, especially when it comes to the fact that fees of any kind should never be an important part of funding. That's a slippery slope the NPS should never have started down in the first place.
What a great analogy, Megaera. The free library is woven into the fabric of American history, and like the national park, the modern public library is (maybe arguably) an American invention.
Nice fresh angle to the New Year's story, by listing things NPT would like to see for the National Parks in 2015, rather than listing resolutions.
We took the traditional New Year's resolution angle for our latest blog post about Acadia National Park, alas. But still an interesting read, we think.
http://www.acadiaonmymind.com/2015/01/new-years-resolutions-acadia-natio...
I would like to see staffing adequate to address backlogs, be they maintenance, archival, curatorial, or of whatever sort. And the staffing to continue after the backlogs are addressed, based on the premise of preventing future backlogs by keeping things done right the first time.
Here's an illustration of the idea of philantrophic giving that "subtley recognizes donors" -- I just noticed that a brochure I picked up at Death Valley does exactly that.
It's a small brochure the same size and fold as the NPS park folders except that this one lacks the classic black title bar. This one is entitled "Death Valley Backcountry Roads." It contains an excellent map with numbers for each backcountry road that correspond to descriptions. The descriptions advise of hazards and special features along the roads.
In one corner is a graphic that says : Presented By Jeep. On the front of the brochure is a photo featuring a vehicle on one of the park's dirt roads. Look closely and behold -- it's a Jeep.
Very subtle and tastefully done. There may also be another sponsor. There's a logo for the American Park Network. A quick internet check indicates that is a publishing company that produces some excellent, free to the public national park guides called Oh, Ranger! I picked one up in the park and found it to be very helpful and interesting. I've found and used them in other parks as well. Their production is apparently paid for by sponsoring ads.
There are a lot of exciting possibilities out there. All we have to do is seek them and embrace the good ones.
I think there should be more fee free days this year. I think if NPS tried it for one year it may get more people into their local national parks and fall in love with them. I would be interested to see the year to year visit averages, maybe this would spark an increase for future years.
Great list.
I also hope:
1. Make the Centennial about the next hundred years. Not the Centennial year. For the Centennial, focus on the MEANING of the parks. Find a common theme of all development projects, and the Foundation should talk to the parks about the priorities, before announcing them.
To focus on the MEANING: Tell the untold stories of meaning to Americans. Parks have power, they are the places where people are bonded by Place, whether in charismatic wilderness or urban places that are turning places in world history, tell the stories of America that matter.
Parks are about patriotism because of power of place and the stories and experiences that connect Place to people.
2. I also hope that Rangers on the Yukon in Alaska, if they haven't already, learn that their first reaction to interaction with the public is an opportunity for interpretation. And to find common ground! Allow the Rangers to enjoy the visitors, see them as people they want to get to know, not perps.
3. On your point Kurt on donor recognition, we should simply give credit to what was DONE, what was donated. No praise, no hustles.
No naming of structures, especially any primary park resources.
And donors should not expect permanent recognition with a plaque or text for a minor donation, but there should be reasonable balance on what is the scale of the contribution, not just the money but the essential nature of what was contributed.
But get some contract officers to cut through the administrative impediments that make donors and partners feel unwelcome. Get some community planners and/or build partnering experience with mid level people BEFORE they become a superintendent. Make these relationships a celebration. If the NPS cannot overcome impediments in the DOI manual or the contract officers that alienate these relationships. Make it essential that these relationships are really among friends, or do not pursue. NPS should not just pursue the money, partners should not just be trying to manage the park themselves. Partners are friends, and they support each other, or they are not partners. Don't force it.