Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
good post. parks are now expensive so is gas.
b4 they started charging and gas was less, the parks were enjoyed and used much more.
i think also many are concerned about the gang related pot farmers who squat the parks.
free parks might allow the people of limited means to take back and enjoy their parks
on the other hand-- all the people now living in their vans and RV's might move there which would also create problems.
Today the National Parks are fee free but only for this weekend. At one time, until the Republicans ruined them, they were always fee free. They should be made fee free again. People should not have to pay $25 to enter a national park or $12 to walk in a national park. These are our national treasures and they belong to ALL of us as Americans. They should be funded to adequate budget amounts by the Congress.
We already have millions of acres of designated wilderness in this country. Places where no motor vehicles, or even mechanized vehicles (bicycles) are allowed to access. In fact, they are among the least utilized (in terms of human visits) of any places in the country, and per use, the most expensive to maintain. That very ban on motors and machines means that things like trail construction must be done with hand tools, and downed trees cleared with axes and crosscuts, rather than chain saws. But hey, keep those evil motor vehicles and hunters and fishermen out. Oh, and the Sierra Club and (to a slightly lesser extent) Audubon Society have done very, very little in terms of maintaining our backcountry areas. They spend far more on lawsuits to keep others from enjoying these areas, than in doing anything to maintain them.
There are only a few user groups that "pay their own way" with regards to backcountry use. Hunters and fishermen pay for licenses that fund purchase of game management areas. They also are the only user group I know of that actually asked to have a special excise tax applied to them. The Robertson-Pittman tax is an 11% tax on guns, ammo and fishing equipment that funds wildlife programs and purchases land for wildlife..which non-hunters, that put nothing into funding, get to use for free.
The only other user group that routinely pays their way is the Off-highway vehicle community. They pay annual registration fees that go to trail construction, maintenance and even enforcement. The fuel tax collected from off-highway use goes to the Recreational Trails Program that funds both motorized and non-motorized trails. So hikers, horse people and bicyclists get a free ride on the backs of the OHV community.
Im sure the would pay more to keep Off roading jerks out of the parks completely...
I used to 4 wheel, i had a 76 Toyota cj40. Most 4wd were jerks and didint care about tearing up the land.
how about urban parks -do you have to pay for those, and does anyone think this would be good?
My local tax money already pays for the parks in my city, and they are s**t holes compared to the ones that local community groups maintain. It has taken my city over two years to renovate one park, where a group of residents did equivalent work by volunteering for three weekends in another park.
Tax money for urban parks is largely a money drain, compared to the alternative.
How do you propose the parks be maintained? The fees are relatively small income to the appropriations of taxpayer funds granted to the NPS by Congress. Yet, many Parks are closed or have areas that are close/unsafe. You'd like to increase closures and maintenance by doing away with the fees? Or, are you just whining because it might affect YOUR WALLET (up close and personal) if you choose to go to an NP?
How about we don't give any money to Pakistan this year? That would do it.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
