It could happen under the National Park Centennial Initiative, a program designed to improve and generate interest in the country's national parks, trails and monuments.

The federally mandated initiative is meant to boost spending on parks by up to $3 billion in the next decade to celebrate the centennial of the National Park Service, which was created by President Woodrow Wilson on Aug. 25, 1916.

As part of the program, Park Service officials are meeting with communities nationwide to get public input on what citizens envision for America's natural treasures.

On Thursday night, residents of southwestern Utah gathered at the Dixie Center in St. George to learn more about the program.

Jock Whitworth, superintendent of Zion National Park in Washington County, said that if Congress approves the initiative, it would mean an additional $100 million a year for the Park Service for up to 10 years beginning in 2008.

In addition, another $100 million a year would be available to be matched by in-kind cash donations from the private sector.

"We are thrilled the administration has done this," said Whitworth. "That could mean up to $200 million a year that will not be used to offset inflation, but help us protect our natural treasures."

He said one thing that is particularly unsettling is the decline of young people using the park. He suspects it is due to more interest in television and video games.

But he also believes the same technologies could be integrated into signature programs around the country, like virtual-video tours, to get young people more interested in the outdoors.

John Hiscock, superintendent of Pipe Springs National Monument on the Utah-Arizona state line, said if the program succeeds, it means that smaller parks like his would not have to compete with the larger parks like Grand Canyon National Park for limited funds.

"The signature projects would apply to all the parks nationwide," he said. "It has a great resource potential."

Matt Nickerson, director of the honors program at Cedar City-based Southern Utah University, suggested the initiative consider programs that would educate students of the parks' value.

"We'd [SUU] like to play a bigger part in education," he said. "[Southern Utah] has a lot to offer, and we have the expertise to help students and the community at large get in touch with the wild world. We may not be Harvard, but Harvard doesn't have what we do in their backyard."

Briget Eastep, coordinator for SUU's outdoor recreation program, said he believes that part of the reason young people stay away from the parks stems from over-protective parents afraid to let their children explore.

"It's the fear factor," she said. "We want to give kids back a sense of adventure. In grades K-12, we could have programs that make the parks a part of life - as a family thing."

Martin Tyner, who operates the Southwest Wildlife Foundation at the mouth of Cedar Canyon in Cedar City, suggested using the natural-history museum he is developing as a possible year-round visitor center for neighboring Cedar Breaks National Monument.

"You could also offer information about opportunities on surrounding Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest lands and Division of Wildlife Resources projects," he said. "It could be like a one-stop shop."

Todd Petersen, an assistant English professor at SUU, said education programs should include teaching about the wilderness and the solitude national parks offer visitors.

"Many on the shuttle buses driving through Zion think they're in a moving Imax theater," he said. "They don't have the concept that they can get out and be in it."

mhavnes@sltrib.com