'Juggling act' at nation's parks is not funny

Examples of cutbacks
Some solutions ultimately involve cutting back.

Unable to pay for salary increases imposed by Congress, parks are doing without positions: a botanist for Death Valley, a canon preservationist at Gettysburg, a trained curator for Big Bend’s 125,000-item collection of Native American and Texas Republic artifacts.

“We are frequently getting new items and nobody with the credentials to do that right,” Big Bend superintendent John King said.

At other parks:

• Hikers in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument in Arizona encounter mounds of trash where illegal immigrants and drug dealers cross from Mexico. Superintendent Kathy Billings said work on cleanup, potholes and painting suffers while her ranger force, with $1 million-a-year in extra money, devotes 75 percent of its time to the illegal border crossings. The visitor center is now shuttered most holidays.
• Blue Ridge Parkway’s maintenance staff in Virginia is operating at two-thirds strength, meaning less grass mowing, restroom cleaning and trail clearing, superintendent Phil Francis said.
• Point Reyes National Seashore in California has cut ranger-led programs by 500, to 1,300 a year.

Jim Boone, of Olympia, Wash., was disgusted by a dingy restroom during a recent visit to Yosemite.

“It looked like nothing had been done to it in the last 30 years. It was in really bad shape. It needed to be completely rejuvenated or torn down and rebuilt,” Boone said.

The familiar green and gray ranger uniform also is less visible as volunteers and concession workers take over many jobs.

From a Death Valley overlook, Lieve Jerger, a wildflower enthusiast from San Pedro, Calif., gazed at the valley’s salt-encrusted floor. “I haven’t noticed any rangers. In the past you’d see them around the park. Now you’re more on your own.”

Raise fees?
Park managers have few short-term options in an environment with war, homeland security, high fuel prices and budget deficits.

Two-thirds of Americans would support fee increases if the extra money were used for road and building improvements as Bush has emphasized, an AP-Ipsos poll found.

Charitable organizations continue to help but usually want their money spent on projects that enrich parks’ experiences, not daily operations, said Ken Olson, who until recently was president of Friends of Acadia, a group helping Maine’s most famous park.

“Government is the landlord. The landlord is responsible for taking care of it,” Olson said. “They are the steward to maintain it for future generations.”

Though he delivered significant backlog money, Bush is now pressing to cut the parks overall by $100 million for 2007. Day-to-day operations would increase slightly, but at a lower level than in recent years.

Many in Congress are not satisfied, but some of their solutions sound like those from Park Service headquarters.

“The cost of operations has gone up, there’s no question about that,” said Sen. Craig Thomas, chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources subcommittee on national parks.

The Wyoming Republican has proposed a $150 million increase for the parks, but he adds: “At the same time when that happens you have to find new ways to be efficient, you have to find new ways of management.”

Part I: Pressures, inside and out, on the parks

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