I don’t really like politics. I don’t like writing about politics, either. No matter what you write about politics, you can always predict that about 50% of your audience will disagree.
With that said, today I’m going to indulge in an anti-politcal rant: HEY FEDERAL GOVERNMENT! PLEASE KEEP POLITICS OUT OF OUR PARKS.
I first noticed politics in our national parks earlier this summer. In the wake of the sequester (5% Federal budget cuts), park administrators were making some strange management decisions. Some of these moves appear to be designed to inconvenience the public in a form of political protest.
EXAMPLE #1 – THE UNNECESSARY CLOSING OF SCHWABACHER’S LANDING
In Grand Teton National Park, there is a special place called Schwbacher’s Landing. It’s particularly scenic because of the presence of beaver ponds. Those ponds contain still waters. The mountains reflect in the water, and this creates a strikingly beautiful scene.
To get to the Schwabacher’s Landing beaver ponds, one must travel a one-mile unpaved road down a fairly steep hillside. This year, due to the sequester and resulting 5% budget cut, park management decided to close the unpaved road with a locked gate. Why did they close an unpaved road? Because of the sequester, they said, they lacked enough money to service the public port-a-potty toilet at Schwabacher’s Landing.
Think about this for a minute: management closed access to one of the most scenic areas of North America over a TOILET. Yes – I am not making this up.
Of course, visitors could still HIKE the mile downhill to Schwabacher’s Landing, which I did on three separate occasions. Closing the road primarily discriminated against the handicapped and elderly.
Closing the road also created safety concerns. If a person was visiting Schwabacher’s Landing and suffered a health problem (or even a bear attack) one would be faced with a lengthy hike out. I personally witnessed some elderly tourists attempting to complete the hike, and was concerned for their safety.
EXAMPLE #2 – SHUTTING DOWN SCENIC TURNOUTS
Now that we’ve moved from sequester into full shutdown mode, the decisions are getting more extreme. In Grand Teton National Park, Federal management is shutting down scenic turnouts along the highway – so people cannot safely stop and view the mountains.
It’s rumored that the NPS is doing the same at Mount Rushmore – closing scenic turnouts so that people cannot safely stop to view the monument.
Scenic turnouts are simply patches of asphalt, but they serve an important safety function to the highway traveling public. What’s the real goal here? It’s to inconvenience the public as much as possible.
EXAMPLE #3 – CLOSING THE OCEAN
In Florida, we hear reports that the Federal Government is attempting to “close” 1100 square miles of OCEAN, so as to prevent fishing trips and so forth. Yes, they are attempting to close a large swath of the ocean (the Florida Bay). I am not making this up.
EXAMPLE #4 – REFUSING STATE MONEY & EMPLOYEES SO PARKS STAY CLOSED
In recent days, several states (South Dakota, Utah, & Arizona) have offered state money and/or employees to pay to keep those state’s national parks open. At first the Federal government rejected the state money and employees, preferring to keep the national parks closed. This has caused unnecessary hardship to park employees, tourists, and local economies.
The most recent development indicates that Utah parks have reopened, thanks to the Feds finally agreeing to accept Utah taxpayer money. This is a step in the right direction, but there’s more work to do to “de-politicize” our parks.
PLEASE, FEDERAL GOVERNMENT, NO POLITICS IN PARKS
All of the decisions documented above are petty, contrived, and not in the best interest of the American people.
Our national parks should be above politics.
Yes, in the wake of the sequester and shutdown, tough decisions must be made.
Yes, there’s no doubt that some operations (for example, Visitor’s Centers) and services must be suspended and/or shutdown.
Yes, we can all agree that a bunch of knuckleheads in Washington (insert the political party of your choice) have caused us all much grief. Blame whoever you want.
But the closing of unpaved roads and scenic turnouts is ridiculous. The real victims of these actions are the American citizens and international tourists who have traveled to the parks, many of whom are on “once in a lifetime” trips. These actions are also creating an unsafe environment in the parks, as the safe areas along the roadway are being unnecessarily closed. In some examples, they are discriminating against the handicapped and elderly. They are also hurting the local communities with economies that depends on the parks.