Abolish the National Park Service (advice)

Atop one of the highest peaks in the eastern United States stands a picturesque example of what America’s national parks could be – if only the government hadn’t effectively banned commerce within their borders.

This is LeConte Lodgebuilt in 1926 and only accessible via a series of hiking trails that wind along the 2,000-foot Mount LeConte. The Tennessee lodge only exists because it was grandfathered when the boundaries of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park were drawn in 1934. Farmers, logging companies and other property owners in the area got the boot. Fortunately, the lodge was allowed to stay.

Nearly a century later, it is time for the federal government to recognize that private investments do not have to conflict with the goal of protecting nature for future generations. Ending the National Park Service (NPS) will mean more facilities like LeConte Lodge can flourish – and entice more Americans to experience the most beautiful parts of the country in new ways.

For hikers, a trip to LeConte Lodge is a step back in time. There is no electricity or running water, but a full meal and a real bed are better than dried out backpacking food and sleeping on the floor. For the price of an overnight stay in one of LeConte’s dozens of cabins, guests get a sumptuous dinner – including generous portions of wine, coffee and dessert – and a hot breakfast to get them started. (Just because you’re probably wondering: the food and bedding are delivered periodically by a team of llamas.)

This kind of facility is an oddity in America, although it will sound more familiar to anyone who has hiked the Alps, which is dotted with lodges offering backpackers hot meals and beds in exchange for a fee. How is it that we have allowed the Europeans to outdo us when it comes to outer capitalism?

Some of the blame lies with mistakes made long ago, such as the forced relocation of farmers and homesteaders in the land now occupied by Great Smoky Mountains National Park and Shenandoah National Park in Virginia. Had they been allowed to stay, some might have cultivated their land to provide services and accommodations for the hikers and other visitors who wandered the newly created trails nearby. Once again, Europe offers a realistic example of what this could look like: in the Italian Puez-Geisler nature park you will encounter grazing cattle and you can stop for a snack and a drink in private refuge that operate within the boundaries of the park.

That mistake cannot be undone at this time, but rethinking how America’s national parks are best managed could help alleviate the heavy traffic and facility shortages evident in many of these parks – to not to mention the $22 billion maintenance backlog The NPS reported this this summer.

It’s true that there are some luxury accommodations available in America’s national parks, such as the famous Old Faithful Inn in Yellowstone. Or you may be lucky enough to get a permit for one of the limited campsites. More likely, a trip to a national park will mean heading back to an Airbnb or hotel in a nearby town that exists largely to provide the services that are effectively banned in the park itself (like Moab, Utah, which is just outside the Arches and Canyonlands). parks).

It doesn’t have to be this way. There is incredible demand for stays at LeConte: the lodge’s reservation list opens each November for the following year and fills up within days. If you miss that window, you’ll have to hope to get a spot on the waitlist. (That’s how a friend and I finally came to visit earlier this year.)

The free market could and would support more of these lodges – there are already some on private land along the Appalachian Trail in New Hampshire, and another chain exists in Colorado. But similar services cannot exist in America’s national parks, because the National Park Service would not allow a place like LeConte Lodge to open today.

Now is the perfect time to rethink the way such parks should operate. The NPS reported more than 325 million visitors last year, almost a record high. There’s no denying the growing appeal of America’s glorious outdoor spaces. But the federal government’s budget woes mean there will likely be less and less funding available for national parks, even as they face maintenance problems and overcrowding.

In short: the NPS will struggle to maintain the current level of service in the coming years, while it already feels that the parks can offer so much more.

One possible answer? Some states and other parts of the federal government have privatized parts of their public space to reduce maintenance costs and expand their facilities. The US Forest Service (USFS), which manages 193 million acres of federal land (larger than Texas), has taken over the day-to-day management of campgrounds, marinas and other facilities since the 1990s. The USFS has greater flexibility in managing its lands because the organization has operated under a mandate from its inception to accommodate multiple uses. The USFS is charged with balancing the interests of conservation, recreation and commercial activities such as logging and grazing. However, within the NPS, conservation is paramount, even if other uses would not cause environmental degradation.

The result is not the result of environmentalists’ nightmares. Instead, the contracts were handed out to the private concessionaires operating on USFS lands limit what the private managers can charge, limit what they can build, and require them to support the conservation mission. Using land and protecting it for future generations does not have to be an either-or proposition, as any responsible person understands.

So abolish the NPS, let the USFS manage the lands currently within the NPS portfolio, and give the agency the power to transfer responsibilities to contractors and nonprofits that can be trusted to respect the environment while expand services and activities available to visitors.

Allowing the private sector to operate more services would also free the parks from being pawns in future government shutdowns. Why should politicians who cannot manage a budget be allowed to cancel your camping weekend?

Eliminating the NPS and overhauling how America’s most beautiful public lands are protected would create more ways for Americans to interact with some of the best parts of the country. And it could allow for more great establishments like LeConte Lodge, funded by the guests who stay there, and not dependent on taxpayers. Because great experiences deserve to be duplicated.

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