Hi Tony,

Thank you very much for posting this. I will probably include the link in the February newsletter. I am all for protecting the national parks from over-utilization, but I also believe that there needs to be a balance.

The parks are first and formost, public lands that have been put aside from development. They are expected to have a variety of different usages and facilities and to be accessible to people from all walks of life. Unfortunately, I think that the parks have not always achieved this goal, being a refuge to the relatively afluent (not always, certainly).

The interesting thing about all this is that while the perception has been that the parks are over-groaning with folks coming to them that there has reportedly been a decrease in park visits over the last decade. I am including a few links on this:

http://www.gadling.com/2007/01/19/is-anyone-visiting-america-s-national-parks/

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-me-natparks24nov24,0,6670084.story?coll=la-home-headlines

So the question is - is it really numbers that are the problem or is it something else, such as a lack of re-investment in some form?

James