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Show FEBRUARY 1995 Jim Hansen On Closing Parks by Katharine Biele aybe Utah Congressman James \ Hansen couldn't help making the comparison between military bases and national parks, both being such heated topics in his congressional district ‘co Hansen, the similarities were clear: military bases are political dinosaurs i richer parks much past goes, there throw if some Resolve to be a good good anomalies romantic logic baggage, In poetic more the the load. Republican off. is of too Lighten lean era for Congress Rep. government should be run like businesses, many of which have been downsizing overextending then, the the and So, in with the a vengeance ‘80s. The appears to be to identify alter mandate and attack fat Before Hansen even took the reins of the House Subcommittee on Parks and Public Lands, he stoked the furnaces of debate by suggesting the need for a park closure commission. Too many parks and too little funding, he said. It wasn't exactly a new idea. During his last campaign, he'd talked about reviewing the Great Basin National Park, an area of mixed beauty on the Utah-Nevada bor der that environmentalists hold dear. Hansen also took part in Jantes V. Hansen ally have other monuments that are just burial sites of the president and _ first lady.” The tomb was established in 1958 In the past five years, Grant's home in the St. Louis area was added to the parks system. “Maybe we don’t need both Then there’s Steamtown in Scranton, Pa. “It's a collection of Canadian trains some guy gave the Park Service and it has nothing © do with American heritage,” Pritchard says heralding the need to even more controversy in a Dec. By Katharine Biele be responsible, Hansen went to an Ogden Weber chamber of commerce meeting last’ year and made his now-infamous “once-is-enough” comment about parks “If you have been there once, you don’t need to go again,” he said. In an apparent attempt at damage control, he creat ed Hansen, however, makes a larger case to shore up the ailing $1.2 billion annual parks budget. “Of this budget, the Park Service spends $900 million on visitor services while only receiving $100 million from entrance and other fees from visitors,” he says in his letter. “Thus, on an annual basis, national park visitors a re subsidized by about $800 million.” Because of this, he’d like to make sure tax dollars are spent on “only the most deserving of areas.” There are a couple of implications in this statement. First, Hansen likely would be willing to consider the politically unpopular idea of entrance fees. “That's sull up for discussion,” says Freemyer “Currently, there’s a prohibition for charging fees at most urban parks and some others. What the congressman is looking at is simply lifting those bans ‘and letting the Park Service determine What makes sense.” Pritchard finds Hansen's support of visitor fees surprising after the congressman voted against a concessions reform bill, which NPCA estimates would have generated $45 million to $60 million a year. Freemyer says the two issues aren't at all related, that the concessionaires bill congressional debate on two unsuccessful bills that sought ways to review parks for closure While a tomb and a home,” Pritchard says. “One has historical significance and one doesn't Rep. Jim Hansen - 8 let- ter to constituents. He carefully outlined the problem and arrived at his conclusion The question is not whether to close some parks, but how to accomplish this goal.” ounds like he’s made up his mind. SS that was the conclusion of the National Parks and Conservation and the editorial Association (NPCA) board of USA Today, both of which responded with alarm. But Allen Freemyer, an attorney on Hansen’s subcommittee staff, insists that alarm is unfounded if not based on misinformation. “Congress needs to make a decision as to what is nationally significant and what should be included (in the park system), he says. “A lot of historical sites are not so historical.” In fact, Freemyer has a point, one that has been brought up by both sides of the debate. Forget for a moment Great Basin National Park. Think Grants Tomb. “Its in New York because Mrs. Grant wanted her husband close to her when she moved,” says Paul Pritchard, NPCA president. “It's in terrible shape and it’s an unusual type of park. You don’t usu- Rep. sions Jim Hansen reform won't says slow conces- the red National Parks Association saying the and (NPCA) Conservation begs parks. to could differ, bring would ink that’s sinking the nation’s parks. The in between $40 million and $65 million generate $65 million. NPCA instance, in 1980, a con- places when Yellowstone National generated 25 percent in fees. In 1993, Yosemite increase at it brought in a new one that in fees. Here’s how NPCA figured that would looked Park replaced a major concessionaire free enterprise also where competition had occurred. For concessionaire withdrew National Park, and from a new contract promised 20 percent of gross cession fees: In 1992, concessions at national to the federal government. Chandler believes reworking just parks brought in $650 million in gross fee of about 2.6 percent or $17 mil- a few major contracts would do the job since 95 percent of franchise pay- lion ments receipts, returning annually, a direct says franchise Bill Chandler, already come from as few as NPCA’s director of conservation poli- 20 concessionaires. But in the end, he cy. Concessionaires thinks the big push should be toward $10 million accounts also in revenues put about into special competition. held at park level, bringing the total to $27 million. According to a “People market survey of state who system, in Congress believe like the say they in a free Republicans do, we would parks in the 50 states and the District think they would of Columbia, contract terms averaged porting this idea,” he says. “Until you a fee have open, fair competition, rate of 10 percent for conces- be strongly supyou are sionaires. That's slightly higher than never going to get the maximum fran- Utah’s average of 6 percent and lower chise fee.” than Delaware’s 18 percent. Sens So, if you assumed that new contracts could get a 10 percent rate, that PAGE Bob Dale Bumpers, Bennett, D-Ark., R-Utah, and are expected to reintroduce the bill this session. @ 6 “If you have been there once, you don ‘t need to go again ... The question is not whether to close some parks, but how to accom- plish this goal.” dealt with a broad range of people who work within parks on lodging, in hamburger stands or on river runs, for instance “He (Pritchard) was wrong on the concessions bill, and he hasn't admitted it,” Freemyer says, noting that the Congressional Budget Office estimated that the bill would generate no new revenue and, in fact, cost the parks money in the first few years. “We've asked NPCA to back that up for a long time. He’s completely wrong on that count.” NPCA admits than all estimates depend upon assumptions, but that theirs were drawn from a 1992 survey of state park contracts and a look at fees in parks dat encouraged competition “When Mr. Hansen says, hey, we've never seen the numbers, well, nobody over here is doing calculus,” says Bill Chandler, NPCA’s director of conservation policy “But we do have a fairly cogent set of assumptions which we will stand by.’ n fact, the concessions reform bill ier both houses overwhelmingly, with Utah’s Bob Bennett championing it from the Senate side. In the final hours of Congress, however, Sens. Malcolm Wallop, R-Wyo. and Richard Shelby, the Alabama Democrat-turned-Republican, kept the bill from coming to a floor vote. Hansen also believes that a lack of focus on the nation’s more significant parks is hurting the system as a whole, and that too many poor candidates are slipping in. “While Congress is busy creating new parks, our crown jewels are falling into serious disrepair,” his letter says. By this, he brings up the contentious issue of how to determine what merits park designation. “Part of the difficulty (in reviewing park designations) is that there isno real criteria of what constitutes a ‘National Park.’ This is one of the first policy questions that must be resolved,” the letter says. “What constitutes a park? What types of areas do Americans want included in the national park system?” Pritchard shot back immediately, pointing to the National Park Service Organic Act of 1916. “Past Congresses and National Park Service have articulated overa period of more than75 years exactly what a park should be,” Pritchard says. “Congress mandated that guildelines be developed and Chapter 2 of the National Park Service’s Management Policies responds to that mandate by clearly outlining the criteria for National Park Service units.” The criteria include: |