In the “all-things-being-connected” category... the fiscal cliff crises means our beloved national parks are facing big cuts in funding and fewer American may have less money to travel if taxes are increased—which, in turn means towns and communities will also suffer from lack of revenue generated from park visitors.
The National Park Service is looking at an automatic 8.2 percent cut in government support—$218 million across the country. To put that figure in perspective, it’s the amount of money the agency spends at the 150 smallest national parks, among them the Northwest’s Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park, San Juan Island National Historical Park, Fort Vancouver, and Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area.
Mount Rainier has a current annual operating budget of $11.7 million, down $500,000 over the past couple of years. Small changes, like closing the road from Longmire to Paradise on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, save money by cutting back on snow removal—because there’s not enough money for the crews.
... The advocacy group, the National Parks Conservation Association, points out that the budget for our National Park Service is one-fourteenth of one percent of the federal budget. It begs the question then as to how much will it actually help the deficit vs. how much will it hurt those of us (and our “guests” from other countries) to be denied access to our treasured, last protected wild spaces? Stay tuned...
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