What to do about it is the question - especially with Katrina and Iraq dominating the agenda in Washington. But a congressional subcommittee is taking a stab at it, landing here in the fifth of a six-stop fact-finding journey that Thursday focused on conditions at Grand Canyon, Zion, Bryce Canyon and other parks in the Southwest.
And what Subcommittee Chairman Mark Souder, R-Ind., and his fellow members got was an earful. Especially following recent proposals by House Resources Committee Chairman Richard Pombo and the Bush Interior Department to scale back and commercialize the park system to help meet its budget needs.
"We don't like what we see," said Richard Smith, who testified on behalf of the Coalition of National Park Service Retirees.
"We are saddened to watch the ongoing efforts by the political leadership of the [Interior] Department and the Park Service to privatize our national park system, a system that author Wallace Stegner called 'the best idea America ever had.' "
Pombo, R-Calif., proposed legislation - jokingly, he later said - that could force the sale of 15 national parks for energy and commercial purposes, and create new regulations that would allow widespread advertising opportunities, including commercial sponsorships of facilities such as park visitor centers and museums.
In a leaked memo draft that caused even more of an uproar, Assistant Interior Secretary for Fish, Wildlife and Parks Paul Hoffman - a former director of the Cody, Wyo., chamber of commerce - proposed revisions of park management policies that would allow cell phone towers, low-flying tour flights and all-terrain vehicles in parks, expand snowmobile access and would limit park managers' authority to prevent development.
The Hoffman memo "departs radically from the fundamental stewardship ethic that has preserved our national parks from their beginning," said University of Utah law professor Robert Keiter, speaking on behalf of the National Parks Conservation Association.
"We question the urgency with which the Department of Interior appears to be pursuing modifications to the management policies of the Park Service, which were last modified only four years ago," Keiter added.
Souder downplayed the more extreme elements of the proposals - but he says there needs to be a serious discussion about creative ways to address the Park Service's budget challenges.
"Parks won't be sold. I can guarantee you that," Souder said. "But commercialization in the parks is a very tough challenge. How far and where are we going to go in allowing it? It's a valid question."
Richard Frost, associate regional director for communications of the Park Service's Intermountain Region, says his agency is trying to maximize the dollars it does get.
A new process to identify each park's core budget requirements, from which it is more efficiently able to prioritize projects and match personnel with needs.
"This is not a one-time exercise, but a change in the way we plan our ongoing efforts," he said.
Still, noted Deborah Tuck president of the Grand Canyon National Park Foundation, said such efficiencies are nowhere near enough to properly maintain the nation's national park system.
"Unfortunately, the truth is that our national parks operate, on average, with just two-thirds of the needed funding - base funds essential for resource protection, visitors' services, facility operations, facility maintenance and park support programs," said Tuck. "And nationwide, only about 12 percent of the [Park Service] budget goes to resource stewardship, including all natural and cultural resources.
"In short, this park operates on just 65 percent of what it needs for its daily operating needs. How many for-profit businesses would be operating if they had only 65 percent of what they need for basic operating expenses?"
jbaird@sltrib.com
