True, the 100th birthday of the National Park Service is almost two years off. But it's not every year one turns 100, and if you're going to throw a party, a lot of prep needs to go into it. With that in mind, how do you think the agency's centennial should be marked?
Little mention publicly has been made of how the Park Service plans to celebrate its birthday. We've heard the agency wants to better connect with Millennials, and now and again we at the Traveler have heard the Park Service wants some sort of connection with the Rose Bowl (not sure if that's anything more than a rumor, though the first Rose Bowl was held the same year -- 1916 -- that the Park Service was created), and that it wants to buff up its 401 units.
More details on the celebration surely will be forthcoming, beginning in January, we believe. But for now, how do you, the park travelers and users, think the agency's birthday should be celebrated? Free entry to all park units throughout 2016? More interpretive rangers on board?
Tell us, travelers.
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Comments
It wouldn't surprise me if the NPS's top-heavy management spends millions on invitation-only parties for high-rollers, just as they did at the start of the Elwha dam removal project. What's really needed is to thin the herds at the D.C. and Regional Offices and put more boots on the ground at the actual parks, which receive less than half the annual appropriation in the current 'trickle-down' system.
Is that actually true? If so, it is a disgrace.
By establishing new park units, such as the several that have been proposed for southern California (the San Gabriel Mountains National Recreation Area, Snow to Sand National Monument, Rim of the Valley National Recreation Area, etc.)
Other parts of the country could use more parks too, of course.
ec-
My post was imprecise and should have read that the NPS spends more on administration than on the 59 actual National Parks combined, but that's still disgraceful.
"But the senator, well-known for pointing out "pork" in the federal government, also describes an overly bureaucratic National Park Service that he paints as a cumbersome agency that spends more on administration and overhead than on the parks themselves."
"... only half of the funds appropriated by Congress even go to the park superintendents, while the national headquarters and regional offices consume more of the NPS budget than facility maintenance projects," the report charges. "Beyond the staff and funding at the individual park units, there is an expansive amount of administrative and specialty support offices and programs."
"In total, the NPS budget provides $455 million to regional and service-wide support offices," the report illustrates. "In comparison, the 59 National Parks representing the 'crown jewels' of the park system receive $442 million in annual general operation and maintenance funds."
/2013/10/senator-coburn-blames-congress-bloated-national-park-service-state-national-park-system24163
They should across the board raise all fees to enable bigger invitation only parties and give all management raises because they deserve it.
Technically, the first Rose Bowl was in 1902.
Technically, that 1902 game was known as the "Tournament East-West football game."
"The game was so lopsided that for the next 13 years, the Tournament of Roses officials ran chariot races, ostrich races, and other various events instead of football.But, on New Year's Day 1916 football returned to stay as Washington State University defeated Brown University in the first annual Tournament of Roses football game."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1902_Rose_Bowl
The original parade of roses was created to celebrate the beautiful southern Cal weather in the middle of winter while the rest of country was freezing its collective fanny off.
As to how the NPS plans on connecting with millenials will be fun to watch. More docent led hikes? :)