Stefonius wrote:
wbwood wrote:
tonymull wrote:
As someone with background and education in recreation management...Since the 1960's our population has grown by a third, while campgrounds, other than private, and National Parks have grown little and in some states not at all. Most of the problems encountered are due simply to overcrowding. In many areas where once a family could easily find a campsite on Friday afternoon it is just insane to go without a reservation now. Why are we then surprised that they are crowded?? Why surprised that fees have risen to levels that would have been unthinkable back then?? Park staff have become city managers and money dedicated to parks and campgrounds is spent repairing wear and tear from too many users....wear and tear that nature used to take care of itself when use was lighter. And yet we hear members of congress who want to have FEWER parks, members who have already turned most campgrounds over to private contractors who have to make a profit, members who have cut public funding for parks and campgrounds since the 1980's.
In BC Canada the rec sites which are small campgrounds, very rustic by our standards, having pit toilets, a picnic table and fire ring, maybe water have been turned to 'user maintained' with no garbage service and little maintenance, but they are now free, no fee. I've seen a couple of these that were not well taken care of, but on the whole they remind me of camping as a kid. I cannot imagine that this would work in the US with the crowding we have. It's not that Canadians are better people, well a little, it is that the majority of campgrounds in BC are not at all crowded. We have been sold out for the sake of profit. Teddy Roosevelt it turning in his grave like the spin cycle on a washing machine. I can also tell you that if you look at any textbook on managing outdoor recreation...we are not even close to following it.
What does the population have to do with campgrounds that haven't grown. If in the 50's you have a 100 site campground that accomaodates 400 people and 50 years later the population has tripled, but yet the campground still only has 100 sites, there is no more population in the campground. The campground still only holds 400 people.
50 years ago the CG might only have been at full capacity two or three weekends per year. Even without an increase in capacity, increased population density will raise demand for those spots, and the same CG might be full all season long. This will put greater stress on the infrastructure even without adding more campsites.
Thank you! Design texts taught us that yes you might construct 100 campsites, but you assume that only 50-60% of them will be used except on a peak weekend or three each year. Now when they are at 85+% use every weekend...well it's like the 4th of July every weekend and the designed capacity of 50-60% is reached even during the week. It's not designed to withstand that without extensive maintenance. You also get trampled greenbelts, wildlife is driven away from the campground, pit toilets are overwhelmed, etc, etc. The camping experience becomes very degraded compared to what old Teddy's vision was. Crowding, in study after study, leads to littering behavior, vandalism, and crime...not to mention noise. It's not just campgrounds, our whole environment is crowded and people who live in crowded conditions naturally bring their behaviors with them when they go camping. That is not to say that everyone reacts that way to crowding, nor that proper parenting has no effect....but generally it's true.
