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[Dalek]

National Park Service turns 100, and some sites are showing their age

When dusk falls Thursday on Yellowstone National Park, Interior Secretary Sally Jewell is expected to kick off a commemoration of the 100th birthday of the National Park Service that will probably go well into the night.

About 6,000 people are expected to gather under the Roosevelt Arch at the park’s north entrance to hear federal officials and governors extol the virtues of what’s hailed as “America’s best idea,” a system started in 1916 by then-President Woodrow Wilson that now includes more than 400 sites on 85 million acres in the 50 states and territories. But when the night is over, what will they awaken to at the start of the park system’s second century?

These days, the views at the parks aren’t all pretty. The system faces a $12 billion maintenance shortfall that has left such entities as bridges and restrooms in disrepair. Yellowstone’s backlog alone is $603 million with crumbling roads, buildings and wastewater systems. Congress has declined to provide funding needed for fixes that have lingered for more than a decade.

Another looming challenge lies in who comes to the parks. The average age of its visitors is as high as 63 years old at some sites, and the Park Service is unsure how to entice younger people away from cities and the Internet.

This year is projected to be a banner year for the park system, with attendance topping 330 million for the first time — an increas of 23 million over last year. The top draws are Great Smoky Mountain National Park in North Carolina and Tennessee with 10 million visitors in 2014, Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona with nearly 5 million visitors and Yosemite National Park in California with nearly 4 million, according to the Park Service. Last year, they spent more than $16 billion in cities and towns around the parks.

The most stalwart park visitors are disappearing, though, because of aging and death. The question of how to draw more young people and minorities who were historically alienated from parks is unsolved. Jewell wants to diversify park visitors and ensure that “the service is relevant to all Americans and engaging the next generation,” according to an announcement of Thursday’s events.

The splendor of the parks is tough to oversell. Visiting national parks, Americans sometimes find themselves face to face with bison and within shouting distance of bears. They walk across earth charred by lava and watch it flow down cliffs into the Pacific Ocean.

There are also pulsing geysers, eye-popping views from cliffs, canyons the size of big cities, and rich animal diversity. Many of the millions of people who visit the Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial and Martin Luther King National Historic Site are unaware that they’re all maintained by the Park Service.

The Interior Department has appealed to Congress, and for years lawmakers have declined to increase the services appropriation above a standard of about $3 billion. Republican members instead called on the Government Accountability Office to investigate the Park Service to determine whether it was collecting enough visitor fees and membership dues to address the problem on its own.

That’s where Sangita Chari comes in. As the program manager for the Office of Relevancy, Diversity and Inclusion, her job is to increase the number of African American, Latino, Native American and Asian employees. The hope is that they, with the help of a five-year-old recruitment program for more diverse visitation, will become a beacon for minorities.

It’s been a hard slog, Chari said. “The issue we have with our minority employees is our turnover rates mirror our recruitment rates,” she said, meaning that they lose as many as they recruit. Traditionally, “it’s expected that to move up, you move from park to park,” Chari said, and postings in remote locations may make minorities feel particularly isolated.

“We also have a challenge retaining millennials,” Chari said. “Unless we stem our retention issues … build a more inclusive environment, we will continue to remain stable.”

The National Parks are a true treasure of the United States. I went to Crater Lake National Park in Oregon last week and it's impossible to convey how awe-inspriing it is. Pictures alone can't do it justice. We took a tour around the lake and we learned of a man named William Gladstone Steel who made it his life's mission to preserve the park before it got into the hands of private ownership-which today would have meant tons of hotels with neon signs and Starbucks everywhere. Instead-it's just pristine gorgeous nature.

 

[inner-G]

I live in WA, and go to state parks instead of national ones when I can a lot of times, because they will still arrest you for cannabis at national parks.

I'd rather camp at Deception Pass than get arrested on Mt. Rainier.

It is obviously a much bigger problem though, and there's no obvious easy fix.

 

[Dalek]

I live in WA, and go to state parks instead of national ones when I can a lot of times, because they will still arrest you for cannabis at national parks.

I'd rather camp at Deception Pass than get arrested on Mt. Rainier.

They did note at Crater Lake that it was not allowed-although Oregon accepts it, the National Park is federal property so it's not legal there.

 

[inner-G]

They did note at Crater Lake that it was not allowed-although Oregon accepts it, the National Park is federal property so it's not legal there.

I've heard of people in WA getting arrested for MMJ when they got pulled over just driving on roads that go through the park. (Which is huuuuuge)

 

[Dalek]

As someone who doesn't smoke though, it was really nice not to have to smell pot everywhere I went for once.

 

[inner-G]

As someone who doesn't smoke though, it was really nice not to have to smell pot everywhere I went for once.

I never really see a lot of smoking at state parks either, I just like to know I won't get arrested.

I do think that there is a lot of crossover between weed smokers and the camping/hiking/fishing crowd though, that are probably the bread and butter types of clientele that is dropping off for them.

They should list the camping spots/cabins on AirBnB to get the milennials

 

[Tal Shiar Agent]

Are you dependent that much you need to smoke pot while enjoying a national park?

Congress has declined to provide funding needed for fixes that have lingered for more than a decade.

Oh gee, I wonder why? Couldn't be the vast mineral wealth of the parks that the GOP wants to exploit, can it?

 

[ahoyhoy]

Are you dependent that much you need to smoke pot while enjoying a national park?

Heh. I go to parks to get a natural high exploring, getibf some exercise, and trying to see some cool nature.

I suppose if I went enough times and wanted to try something different then perhaps smoking would enhance the experience.

 

[Dalek]

Heh. I go to parks to get a natural high exploring, getibf some exercise, and trying to see some cool nature.

I suppose if I went enough times and wanted to try something different then perhaps smoking would enhance the experience.

We made a hike to the top of the Watchman's Trail at Crater Lake. It's up to a tiny little summit and I got up there, breathed in the fresh air and marveled at the view. A few minutes later this guy huffed up to the top and then promptly lit a cigarette and smoked up.

 

[Piggus]

One of my favorite class field trips was a snowshoe tour at Crater Lake. Amazing place.

 

[Lucreto]

I need to travel to the US and tour these parks. I love doing walks and hiking.

I just need someone interested in doing to same.

 

[SDCowboy]

I hit a couple different national parts every year. It's become a tradition for me.