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Dwight T. Pitcaithley: Former chief historian of the NPS calls for major changes

[Dwight T. Pitcaithley, chief historian of the National Park Service from 1995 to 2005, has called on Congress to consider tripling the budget of the organization by 2016 to more than $6 billion. He writes:]

A budget of $5–6 billion does not seem unreasonable given the requirements and rising costs of maintaining 20,000 buildings, almost 1,000 campgrounds, 1,600 wastewater systems, 1,300 water systems, 115,000,000 objects, 67,000 archeological sites, and 26,000 historic structures. Furthermore, the complex demands placed on parks by a panoply of congressional legislation and the role many envision the Park Service playing in American society all point to a 2016 budget far healthier than the one currently envisioned. Such a centennial budget would embrace full public funding of the Park Service and national park system. It would, appropriately, abandon the Recreation Fee Demonstration Program. This user fee is inherently inequitable. In a democracy such as ours, the educational and recreational benefits of the national park system should not be available only to those who can afford them. The riches of the national parks should be available to all without reference to economic status. The educational values found in national parks better us as a people and lead to a more informed citizenry. As the National Park Service has recently acknowledged, there is civic value in national parks, and if we as a society are to benefit from those values entrance fees to parks should be abolished.
Read entire article at George Wright Society website