[…] ride public transit and, in addition, the transportation would undoubtedly be overused. Fears that fees would reach hundreds of dollars per person are not supported by fact. Yellowstone National Park costs some $41.7 million to operate and maintain each year, with park officials claiming another $13.3 million is needed for one-time investments and capital […]
Old Faithful Geyser of Yellowstone National Park, NPS photo by Jim Peaco Originally appeared in The New York Times’ Room for Debate series on May 26, 2016. The national parks are often celebrated as America’s best idea, but we are loving the idea to death. Traffic jams on crumbling roads and long lines to overflowing […]
[…] good will. This story may sound very specific to the spectactularly beautiful (yes, I’m biased) and biodiverse Paso del Istmo, but it’s a universal tale. Substitute “ Yellowstone ecosystem” for “Nicaragua,” “wolves” for “jaguars,” and “Defenders of Wildlife” for “Paso Pacifíco,” and you’ve basically got the Hank Fischer story. Hank, the ultimate enviropreneur, helped […]
Throwback Thursday: From the Vault The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone National Park. Photo courtesy of Brook Ward. “Our needs are astronomic,” remarked president of the National Park Foundation Will Shafroth. “The parks don’t have enough money to accomplish their goals.” As our National Park Service celebrates its 100th birthday, it faces a nearly $12 […]
[…] western states.17 The magnitude of the unfunded needs on current federal lands is staggering. The National Park Service alone has a deferred maintenance backlog of nearly $12 billion.18 Yellowstone and Yosemite, two of the most iconic parks, each face more than half a billion dollars in unmet maintenance needs.19 Overall, the total deferred maintenance backlog across […]
[…] revenue to maintaining national parks. Affirm park managers’ authority to set their own fees and keep the revenues locally. Many parks have fees—$30 for a week-long pass to Yellowstone or $25 for camping in Arches National Park—that provide supplemental revenue. Park managers, not distant politicians, decide how this money is spent, which is why it […]
Yellowstone National Park, NPS photo by Neal Herbert Today’s myth: As taxpaying citizens, we should not pay to visit our national parks. Fact: Our national parks are chronically underfunded and visitor fees provide critical, though currently insufficient, funding for park operations and maintenance. We Americans fancy ourselves a nation of conservationists. We claim […]
[…] was little, my family lived on the Idaho side of the Tetons, so I spent a lot of time in both the Grand Teton National Park and Yellowstone. As a 4-year-old, I loved camping at Jenny Lake in the summer and exploring Yellowstone in the winter. Jenny Lake, Grand Teton National Park Which is […]
Throwback Thursday: From the Vault Road maintenance required near the Firehole River in Yellowstone National Park. Next week is National Park Week. To celebrate, the National Park Service is waiving admission fees to all national parks, advocating that this is a week for Americans to discover their national parks and the wonders they contain. […]
[…] our national parks are in trouble. Decades of neglect and misplaced priorities have left a glaring blemish on a system known for its crown jewels such as Yellowstone and Yosemite. The Park Service will reach its centennial with an $11.9 billion backlog in deferred maintenance projects, an amount five times higher than the agency’s […]