National parks' maintenance backlog can' t be clear

“Sorry, I was able to access and read the article without being registered. (Maybe I'm registered with an affiliated newspaper.) Here is the article:

National parks' maintenance backlog can't be cleared
John Heilprin, Associated Press
July 9, 2004

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Eliminating a maintenance backlog in the national parks, as President Bush promised in his 2000 campaign, is impossible, Interior Secretary Gale Norton said Thursday. She likened the park system to an old house that will forever need repairs.

"Just like in your house," Norton said in answer to a reporter's question. "You never get to the point where you say, 'Well, all done, totally zero left to do.' "

The National Park Service has been criticized by environmentalists, retired agency employees and House Republican who oversee the service's budget. So Norton summoned reporters to show how much money the agency has spent on parks on Bush's watch.

Her report said Bush "is meeting his commitment to invest $4.9 billion to address maintenance needs" by 2006 and has increased spending in other areas. The administration, Norton said, has added the equivalent of 829 full-time jobs to the agency since 2000, bringing the total to 20,637. Previously, she has said that more than $3 billion has been spent so far.

She said the agency's operations and construction budget has grown 18 percent since Bush took office, compared with a 2 percent cut during former President Bill Clinton's first term. "Let me set the record straight: The big picture is a bright one. Never before have our parks received so much care," Norton said.

The National Parks Conservation Association, however, says the Park Service has spent only $662 million in new money to reduce a backlog of maintenance needs. The group says the rest of the money is going to repairs that do not ease the backlog.

The Coalition of Concerned National Park Service Retirees brushed off Norton's progress report as "surreal happy talk that is divorced from the genuinely dire reality of the situation."

Last month, House Republicans who oversee Interior Department spending approved a $1 billion budget for park operations. But they took issue with hundreds of millions of dollars spent for construction and travel rather than to reduce the maintenance backlog. Norton suggested those legislators were misinformed.

On Sept. 13, 2000, Bush "pledged to eliminate the $4.9 billion maintenance and resource protection backlog at the National Park Service, over five years," according to the Bush-Cheney 2000 campaign Web site.”

“"Norton said, has added the equivalent of 829 full-time jobs to the agency since 2000"

Really now. Well I can name you several parks that are SCREAMing for more help. Are we talking only National Parks though, or the ever-present problem with the state parks, and recreation areas too?

Even GSMNP though?.. Some of the trails are in BAD need of repair.”

“TownDawg - After the storms of May, 2003, GSMNP Officials said that they would still not know the extent of the damage even after a year.

And they were planning additional cut-backs in personnel this year.

The artical appears to refer to National Parks.”

“article”

“WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Eliminating a maintenance backlog in the national parks, as President Bush promised in his 2000 campaign, is impossible, Interior Secretary Gale Norton said Thursday.”

“Ha, that article is the biggest crock of $h!t that I have read in a while. Denali National Park is so strapped for cash that they can barely empty the trash.”

“That is halarious, Gale Norton should've been a comedian!”

“A County Park, an hour's drive into the country from here, was recently taken over by the NPS. For years, this place functioned well as a small public access spring on the Suwannee River. It is now closed for repairs. They are adding some brand new cabins, a large ranger house, paved roads, ect. Once they hire all the new staff they'll need to run this Disney-like park, they'll probably want more money for upkeep.

A State Park, an hour's drive into the country from here, is building some very fancy cabins for "guests" to stay in.

Expansion, expansion, expansion, …that's not the way government was originally intended to function in this country. In this case they're taking the "wilderness experience" away while expanding their little fiefdoms. Where is the cry about overbuilding in our parks? Why do you think they have a backlog of maintenance?”

“The idea of improvements is to make the wilderness more accessible

Each improvement(?) tends to attract more people. More people leads to additional improvements. The cycle continues! It becomes contrary to the objective of providing parks and areas for the enjoyment of all the people. I find myself being priced out of enjoying beaches and the wildernesses.”

“I've seen the Corp of Engineers operate in much the same way.

Picture this:

We have a nice little day-use park up at the reservoir. In fact, there are about 10 or 15 parks like it around the lake, in addition to 8 or 10 campgrounds ... it's a fairly large lake. And I guess the park I'm talking about isn't all that little -- it's about 3 miles from one side to the other.

But Anyway -- some time ago... late 70s / early 80s, it was nothing but dirt roads, less than 20 picnic tables and a few trashcans. We'd toss a pony keg in the car along with our sleeping bags and have a big ol' time.

Today, there are 300 picnic tables and paved roads. About 15 years ago the Corps brought in truckloads (and truckloads and truckloads) of beach sand, 8 sets of playground equipment, 4 or 5 bathrooms with hot running water and a triple boat ramp... So now they say they can't afford to have someone patrol it and the gates are locked half the year!

Of course this suits me just fine because I park outside and hike in... I have the whole place to myself!

But the one thing that completely astounds me is that to prevent erosion from wave action and run-off, they've 'encased' the entire shoreline with an 8-ft. wall of pressure treated lumber (where they didn't put the beach sand, that is)... There's got to be four or five MILES of the stuff (probably more). They used enough lumber to build an entire subdivision.

Now, a dozen(?) years later, all that wood is beginning to rot. So during the winter when the water levels are lower, they're bringing in truckloads (and truckloads) of riprap (football to basketball-sized chunks of granite) and piling it up to protect the wood. I wonder if they'll eventually surround the entire shoreline with that too?

It's insane.


Now multiply that by 15 or 20 for the other parks...


And how many dams and reservoirs does the Corps of Engineers oversee?”

“Oh -- And it costs $30 for a yearly pass.... to use the parks for the half year they're open.

(so in actuality, it's $60 per year, I guess)”

“Lassen Park is terribly under staffed. Most of the time, they cant even staff the entrance station to get the $10.00 Park fee. They only have a couple full time Rangers on the North side and they are about to lose one of them to duty in Iraq.

I was told by one of the Rangers that each time they raise the entrance fee, the Feds cut more funding.....so the level never really goes up.”

“But, tilt, Hartwell Lake does have some nice campsites. And I saw a
b e a t i f u l girl working near the dam at the visitor's center.”

“This reeks of the Blue Ribbon Coalition. I'm all for moderate infrastructure enhancements, natural bank stabilization and the like but jeeze. When you start popping in those permanent "cabins", paving all the roads, adding 12 urinals, showers and basically turnign it into a KOA....


Welcome to EcoWonderland National Park with a comlementary all-you-can-eat buffet, poolside priveleges and free cable hook-up! And don't forget about our petting zoo!”

“Right on, roseymonster. Get this: Kentucky not only has State Parks, they have S.R.P. - State Resort Parks.

And in Tennessee I discovered that Standing Stone SP" is primarily a large recreation area. I was unable to get any information on their 10 miles hiking trail and I was misinformed on the camping rates. And worse, the Standing Stone was not there. It was located 40 miles away from the Park! I decided against staying there and drove on.”

“Clear.”

“WASHINGTON (CNN) -- One day after she was fired, former U.S. Park Police Chief Teresa Chambers accused the Bush administration Saturday of silencing dissenting views in the rank and file.....

Complete story

The only way this is going to change is vote Bush out of office.....”

“We spend billions in Iraq, but the security in out parks is too expensive.”

“Hartwell, hmmmm?

Was she at least 30 and did you check for a ring? LOL”

“No, she was younger, available, oops, I better not give all the details I learned about her. However, she was interested in a trip to Maine. I figured that I would invite her to go with me, as soon as I win the Florida Lottery.

BTW, there was a nice pool hall in Hartwell. The guy working there tried to convince me to move there, that the cost of living was real low. The cost of playing pool was relatively low.”

“well Shoot. Anything under 30 is like serious cradle-robbing for me....

Good Luck with the Lottery Thing!”

“Tilt... umm... I'm SURE I read SOMEWHERE that you weren't looking... LOL! *caught ya!!*”

“Be careful. That woman remembers every post.”

“Back to the spirit of the thread. Yesterday I read in the 2004 Edition of The Guide to the Superior Hiking Trail: "Is the trail too muddy for your taste? Are more boardwalks needed? Is there a newly fallen tree that needs to be cut?...." Later today I'm going to email them, raise the issue and suggest that they just blacktop the whole damn thing. Too muddy for your taste, more boardwalks needed...sheesh.”

“Right, Snake Eyes, we do need more blacktop. It's rough going in that mud on our blades and skateboards.”

“Oh, I may be looking literally.... but not figuratively.

<GRIN>”

“That reminds me of another thing the Corps did at that park. They have a 'nature trail' (a little over 2 miles) that they paved over with asphalt so people in wheelchairs and such can get out into the woods a little.

I don't fault them at all for this; I think it's a nice touch, really, for people who might not get a chance otherwise. It's just a strange visual: a paved trail through the woods, with yellow blazes still painted on the trees.”

“Somewhere I have a booklet of MN hiking trails. Most of the trails are already blacktopped!”

“Hmmmm-- I'm trying to remember... That path from the parking lot up to the observation 'thing' on Clingman's Dome is paved, but heck, that's just a sidewalk anyway.


Most of the trails in Mini-Soda are paved?

weirdness.”

“Note: In GSMNP the Laurel Falls Trail is asphalt from Little River Rd. to the Falls.

Publication: Minnesota State Trails, DNR
URL's
www.dnr.state.mn.us/state_trails (timed out on me this Sunday morning)
www.dnr.state.mn.us (timed out on me this Sunday morning)

19 trails listed with
34 trail segments

21 of the 34 trail segments are asphalt

Others are Crushed limestone, Crushed aggregate base(larger than limestone), Natural surface(primarily snowmobile use) or Undeveloped.

Information Center
Minnesota Department of Natural Resources
500 Lafayette Road
St. Paul, MN 55155-4040
651-296-6157 (Metro Area & outside MN)
1-999-MINNDNR (MN Toll Free)
Fax. 651-297-3618
www.dnr.state.mn.us

or

Minnesota Office of Tourism
100 Metro Square
121 Seventh Place East
St. Paul, MN 55101-2112
1-800-657-3700 (Toll Free)
651-296-5029 (Metro Area)
www.dted.state.mn.us

click on the cap”

“

Bituminous.... as opposed to Anthracite.


Whooo could imagine?”