National Park Fees going up?

[advenas]

The kids and dogs aren't at fault. It's the parents or the owner that fails to set boundaries and control the situations they get into. If someones' kid is cutting through a campsite or if the neighbors dog is barking non-stop it's the guardian of either that should be acting on stopping the behavior. Which is, in my opinion, is where the problems start. If someone complained to my dad about our behavior when I was a kid, man you were in trouble.

[Patandlinda]

No worries now because the government is shut down . Pat

[gbaglo]

Originally Posted by Patandlinda

No worries now because the government is shut down . Pat

Sort of. Congress still collects their pay cheques, but somebody has to argue.

[Patandlinda]

Well they just said Parks will stay open this time . Got to get that money .Pat

[oldwave]

Not sure how there going to do that.

[Vermilye]

Originally Posted by oldwave

Not sure how there going to do that.

The Phoenix NPR station mentioned that the Arizona governor spent $100,000.00 per day to keep the Grand Canyon open during the last shutdown & expects to do the same this time. The state did eventually get reimbursed for the last one.

So far, no one is chasing us out of the Quartzsite BLM LTVAs...

[float5]

Originally Posted by Patandlinda

Well they just said Parks will stay open this time . Got to get that money .Pat

As far as I know, they do not mean campgrounds and much of the rest of it. The national wildlife refuge near us said that they would be closed in a shutdown, visitor center and the whole place I guess, so we went over the other day.

Saw many thousands of geese flying by. And a big blue heron there, some snow geese and just a few others.

We happened to be at a campground on our last day of weeks when a shutdown occurred and they turned off the electric and all early that day, before we had been due to go out.

[Tin]

Originally Posted by Vermilye

The Phoenix NPR station mentioned that the Arizona governor spent $100,000.00 per day to keep the Grand Canyon open during the last shutdown & expects to do the same this time. The state did eventually get reimbursed for the last one.

So far, no one is chasing us out of the Quartzsite BLM LTVAs...

Hi Jon,
If my memory is correct you should be fine, as long as you bought your permit and our residing in the LTVA ares prior to the shutdown. In the event of a prolong shutdown they will not sell permits and not allow new arrivals. The 14 day BLM lands (Dome-rock) will remain open regardless.
Tin.

[float5]

I understand that they are told to put signs that they are closed in places where there are no gates. But perhaps there is no one who will be getting people out.

There are some BLM staff still working but what they will do at any one place, no telling. They may not do anything.

[float5]

We have now been told that we can drive into the national wildlife refuge near us. It is the visitor center and office and associated events and programs that have been closed and canceled. So we can still go there which I am very glad to hear as I go regularly.

[P&L]

Looking to make a camping reservation at a national park today:

[Iowa Dave]

Originally Posted by P&L

Looking to make a camping reservation at a national park today:

What? no reservations? How can this be? I’m gonna call my senator, wait she’s home for the weekend? Doing what? Telling us all what a great job they’re doing in Washington. oh.
Should make for quite a run for the roses if they get the sites up again.
Iowa Dave

[Tford]

Not sure the fees can ever be high enough. Recently retired from TX parks and the only thing that SEEMS to work is dedicated taxes. That being said, TX took itself off cigarette tax in the 90’s, something about “enjoy your state parks but please keep smoking” didn’t seem right. In the 90’s we were given a dedicated tax on sporting goods sales, the first biennium (our legislators meet every 2 years) it worked out pretty well. Then our beloved legislators saw how MUCH income was being produced and, of course, said “hey, that’s a lot of money, let’s instead cap it at a certain amount and use the rest for something else”. Mind you, this was a tax that the people voted for because it was sold as a panacea for the park system. So parks floundered again with a capped budget on their “dedicated” tax that was barely enough to keep things going but not enough to address backlogs of deferred maintenance and equipment wearing out. Recently our legislators lifted the cap, one hopes that this holds and that long awaited dollars might finally start to flow to our state’s park system. One good example of dedicated tax that works...Arkansas, they passed it and left it alone, and their parks system is flourishing with new facilities and equipment. It seems our legislators in DC never want to get near the third rail of tax increases, but who wouldn’t pay an extra .03-04¢ on a gallon of gas IF it was dedicated to a program like National Parks....but that’s a big IF of them never touching it, as my own state did....

[rbryan4]

I think you're right. Dedicated funding is the way to go. Even then, the issue seems to come down to whether or not the States or the Feds will actually leave that money where it belongs, instead of diverting it. When you look at the big picture, fully funding parks would be a drop in the bucket compared to the overall budget. And it's worth it.

[Tford]

Yup, and here in TX, we were sold the lottery was going to help education.....but I’m sure our brethren across the country were also sold the same bill of goods on lotteries.....wonder what the wacky weed taxes are earmarked for in those few states.....

[steve dunham]

Minnesota passed a constitutional amendment setting apart a set percentage of sales tax revenue for parks , wildlife, forests , preservation projects , hunting , fishing plus establishing a trust account.. The amendment also stated that the money from this dedicated fund or the trust account could not be used to cover budget cuts / shortfalls .. Well the first time the state ran a little short of money one of the political party's tried to cut the DNR and Parks budget and told them to raid their trust fund . The amendment was carefully crafted and the courts stopped the larceny by the legislature
My point is that unless the dedicated fund is based on a stable tax source ,it is protected from government raiders and is operated by people of conscience , it will not solve the funding problem.
Michigan is a prime example of setting up a park trust fund for parks and then failing to fund the trust fund
Looked good on paper but in reality it is a public sham.

[Moaboy]

When one stops and thinks about every thing the Federal Government spends money on, I think our National Parks should be a priority. And as mentioned earlier, visitors come from all over the world to enjoy them. I don’t mind phasing in reasonable increases and more appropriate funding to address the maintenance backlog. I want future generations to experience their beauty as so many of us have. I was in Denali for two weeks last summer. Amazing!
And such a loss if we don’t protect them.

[Patandlinda]

Originally Posted by Moaboy

When one stops and thinks about every thing the Federal Government spends money on, I think our National Parks should be a priority. And as mentioned earlier, visitors come from all over the world to enjoy them. I don’t mind phasing in reasonable increases and more appropriate funding to address the maintenance backlog. I want future generations to experience their beauty as so many of us have. I was in Denali for two weeks last summer. Amazing!
And such a loss if we don’t protect them.

Totally agree! Pat