This Land, Your Land

A report released by the nonprofit National Parks Conservation Association today says that, for the second year in a row, the likely erosion of necessary funding for America’s national parks will harm the parks, visitors, and surrounding communities and businesses.

If Congress' Super Committee fails to craft a debt-reduction deal that passes Congress, mandatory across-the-board budget cuts will have a drastic impact on national parks, which the report says are "at the tipping point."

"In the past two years, park visitation has been higher than it has been in a decade — yet national parks suffer from an annual operations shortfall of $500-$600 million, and receive $325 million less per year than necessary to keep an $11 billion maintenance backlog from getting worse," the NCPA says in a news release about “Made in America: Investing in National Parks for Our Heritage and Our Economy” (large .pdf file).

"Further cuts could mean fewer rangers to greet visitors, reduced visitor center hours, shortened campground seasons, closure of entrance stations and backcountry trails, fewer educational programs, and reduced law enforcement patrols to safeguard America’s heritage."

Across-the-board discretionary cuts of 9 percent that are to go into effect if the Super Committee fails would take about $231 million from the national parks budget, the NCPA says. "This would unquestionably be devastating for many national parks, visitors, and the communities and businesses that depend on them," the group adds.

A recent NPCA study found that every federal dollar invested in national parks generates at least four dollars of economic value to the public.

Among 10 case studies of parks, the 54-page report says a 10 percent cut to the Blue Ridge Parkway budget would "almost certainly mean the layoff of some permanent employees and the elimination of seasonal hires altogether, resulting in the closure of some of the Parkway’s facilities." With even a 5 percent cut, "the Parkway would likely have to shorten hours at its visitor centers and possibly close some."

One way park managers make ends meet is by turning to volunteers for help. At Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the most visited national park in the system, the park has generated $2.48 million worth of work from volunteers for "a hefty return on the investment in salaries for two volunteer coordinators. Yet volunteer coordination activities are often among the first functions to be sacrificed when a park hits tight budget times — those staffers are often reassigned to more pressing duties."

Parks also have depended on entrance and recreational fees, and private philanthropy and partnerships with businesses to stretch their budgets.

"But not all parks charge fees, and smaller parks often are unable to collect significant sums even when they do charge fees," the report concludes. "While the vast majority of Americans are happy to contribute to the upkeep of their parks, there is a question as to whether taxpayers should have to pay twice to visit the lands they own — once with their taxes and once at the gate."

Update: The National Parks Conservation Association says "the Parkway can preserve its integrity as a self-contained, scenic motorway separate from the regional highway system, rather than allow piecemeal road developments to transform the historic parkway into a commuter traffic route," by adopting the proposed general management plan, and calls for folks to speak out at the public hearings.

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The Blue Ridge Parkway is presenting options to the public for a new general management plan, the preferred alternative to which "emphasizes the original Parkway design and traditional driving experience, while enhancing outdoor recreational opportunities and regional natural resource connectivity, and providing modest improvements to visitor services."

Public hearings are set for November 2 at the Folk Art Center on the Parkway near Asheville, November 3 at the Blowing Rock Art and History Museum, November 9 at the Nelson Memorial Library in Lovingston, Va., and November 10 at the Brambleton Center in Roanoke, Va. Each meeting is from 3 to 7 p.m. and will feature exhibits that explain the plan.

The Blue Ridge Parkway Draft General Management Plan/Environmental Impact Statement, available here, provides comprehensive guidance for perpetuating natural systems, preserving cultural resources, and providing opportunities for quality visitor experiences along the Parkway for the next 20-plus years, the news release says.

In the approach preferred by the National Park Service, Alternative B, "the parkway would be actively managed as a traditional, self-contained, scenic recreational driving experience and designed landscape," the plan's introduction says. "To support that experience, many of the parkway’s recreation areas would provide enhanced opportunities for dispersed outdoor recreation activities."

Under Alternative C, the Parkway would be managed in a manner "more integrated with the larger region’s resources and economy," the plan says. "More emphasis would be placed on reaching out to communities and linking to regional natural, recreational, and cultural heritage resources and experiences. The parkway would continue to be managed to retain the fundamental character of the traditional designed landscape and scenic driving experience. However, a variety of more modern recreational and visitor service amenities would be provided, primarily concentrated in visitor services areas. As a result, portions of some recreation areas would be redesigned."

Alternative A describes the Parkway as is, and is a "non-action alternative" for comparison purposes. As it is currently being managed, "there is not a comprehensive Parkway-wide resource and visitor use management direction for setting priorities. Resource and visitor use issues and conflicts [are] resolved on a case-by-case basis without the guidance of an agreed upon Parkway-wide management strategy."

Under the preferred alternative, about 9.4 percent of Parkway land would become part of "recreation zones" and accommodate "a wider range of trail-based recreational activities such as allowing mountain biking and horseback riding in some locations, or more hiking trails or trail improvements to accommodate more hikers. Recreational opportunities would focus on the outdoors and include organized group programs, self-guiding interpretation, nature observation, picnicking, hiking, backpacking, viewing natural and cultural resources, photography, exploring, and backcountry camping."

The proposal also suggests additional campsites, picnic areas, restrooms, and interpretive media, and "expanding visitor services from a six-month to a nine-month visitor season."

Increased recreational opportunities and development outside the Parkway in the Roanoke, Highlands and Asheville areas will increase visitation and congestion, the report says, but mitigation efforts described in the report would make them minor and localized in the long-term.

Comments on the plan can be submitted at any of the meetings listed above, or until December 16 online or by mail to: Superintendent Philip A. Francis, Jr., Blue Ridge Parkway, 199 Hemphill Knob Road, Asheville, NC 28803.