Push to privatize National Park Service campgrounds

for the sake of conversation to those who grouse about seniors getting discounts o=to parks / BLM areas: do you take you Good Sam / KOA / or other program discounts when you check into a RV park, or do you, as some have stated "demand to pay full price regardless of age"?? Many seniors saved for retirement and purchased RV's to travel, visit National Parklands to enjoy the scenery and the outdoors. Taking this opportunity away by "blacken out" prime dates, or any other time is not a realistic thing to do. Granted, many retirees can well afford to pay all price and run their massive RV's, but take a step back and consider the general population who uses the parks. I, for one, use my Senior Pass when I can.

Maybe I missed it, but has anybody specifically addressed the core problem: NPS's deferred maintenance backlog of 12 billion dollars? Either voters force Congress to fund the NPS backlog, or voter complacency forces the NPS to offload the backlog into the private sector. If Congress acts, we all (indirectly) pay our fair share to fund the NPS. With privatization, only those who use the park system will pay---inevitably resulting in much higher entrance and service fees. Bottom line, does America care enough about their National Parks to share the burden--fund the $12,000,000,000 backlog? If not, then privatization it is---just like NASA did with parts of it space program.

The NPS is motivated by aesthetics and the visitor experience.
Concessionaires are motivated by profit.
Keep campgrounds in the hands of the Park Service.
INcrease user fees to help pay for maintenance and new RV access.

westernrvparkowner wrote:
2012coleman, You are right! No final Jeopardy glory for me.:(

:B

Hopefully the NPS will retain perpetual naming rights and not have a repeat of the Yosemite fiasco.

I am OK with no discounts during peak season. In fact the fees currently for weekends could probably be doubled during peak season. Someone has to pay and best to be the users.

2012coleman, You are right! No final Jeopardy glory for me.:(

The NPS needs to increase user fees.

westernrvparkowner wrote:

dedmiston wrote:
I had to delete some posts for words like "geezers".

Let's please keep this thread civil so I don't need to close it.

Didn't know that word needed to be added to Richard Pryor's list.

That would be George Carlin - not Richard Pryor.

dedmiston wrote:
I temporarily closed the thread. One of the primary trolls is gone from the forum and I'm reopening it again.

That is welcome news.

DrewE wrote:

steveh27 wrote:
My experience dealt with Long Pine cg in the everglades. I had stayed there twice using my senior pass. There are no site hookups. They do have a communal water fill & dump site. The toilets are good and they have solar showers. A couple years ago I checked about going again & a private concessionaire was now in charge & refused to honor the senior pass discount. Almost seems like fraud to change it after the fact. I called & emailed complaints to the NPS but never heard back. I have not returned. I found other free boondocking sites. Just sad they want to take away our senior discount.

By "change it after the fact" do you mean the price changed between when you made a reservation and when you arrived, or that the price basically went up (due to there no longer being a discount offered) between your previous stay and your inquiry? The former seems questionable, the latter in my opinion is nothing at all near fraud, any more than a store or restaurant raising their prices substantially. You, of course, have the option of taking your custom elsewhere, as indeed you did.

Change it after the purchase of the senior pass which promised the discount. Now it's gone. They should have said the discount could betaken away at any time at their whim. That cg has no reservations.

My opinion after more than fifty years camping in NPS parks ... A general statement of my experiences in parks AFTER private concessionaires take over would include less care, less maintenance, higher cost, added fees, and general rudeness of staff.

In my opinion again, NO private corporation should be allowed to make money on the backs of taxpayers, which is exactly what happens when a private corporation takes over. Taxpayers supply the land, ecosystem protection, fire protection, built the parks and campgrounds, built and maintain the roads.

Our best position, if data - often manipulated - suggests concessionaires can or might do a reasonable job running our camps, then HIRE that company for a straight fee, like we do road-building and other federal projects, and keep the profit margins above that fee IN THE PARKS for upkeep and upgrades.

Despite the fact that some individuals believe discounts should disappear, veterans earned a little compensation for protecting our country. Seniors built the parks over a lifetime of taxes. Disabled deserve a little compassion.

But regardless, it should be the decision of the NPS whether concessionaires apply a discount, not the concessionaire decision, as we KNOW what choice private companies make regarding revenue and profit.

It falls on all citizens and visitors to maintain the NPS system, and when a federally mandated discount (at one time at least) disappears, then only the holders of those passes pay more, so the raise in revenue hits only ONE portion of park visitors, and more than likely, those visitors attend parks and camp more often and generate more NPS and local towns revenue overall.