National Park Fees on the Rise

The first National Park in the United States and the world celebrated its 146th birthday on March 1, 2018.

Resting on top of an active volcano, Yellowstone National Park has grown in many ways other than years since 1872.

Covering 3,472 square miles, home to 10,000 hydrothermal features, 500 active geysers, and 290 waterfalls, Yellowstone brings in millions from all over the world to visit its wonders.

Ever since the first visitor, Yellowstone has had a steady incline of visitors each year. In the last recorded year, according to the Yellowstone National Park visitation statistics, in 2017 4,116,525 people visited Yellowstone.

This growth is seen by looking 10 years prior in 2007 where the number of visitors was 3,151,343 people.

Since 2008 visitation at Yellowstone National Park has increased by 40 percent, according to the Yellowstone Insider.

This makes 2017 the second busiest year in Yellowstone history.

Although, due to this increase in visitation road systems have been poor and overcrowding is having an effect on the land.

Superintendent of Yellowstone, Dan Wenk, said in a press release that, “in order to make informed decisions about visitation we will gather visitor information in 2018 and 2019.”

Because of this increase in visitors to national parks, there have been suggestions of raising entrance fees during the “peak seasons” for 17 National Parks. Yellowstone National Park is listed to see an increase in the park entrance fee.

The current fee for a seven-day pass to Yellowstone is $30 per car. The proposed fee would be $70 per car.

Ryan Zinke, United States Interior Secretary, said that it is necessary to increase the entrance fee to national parks.

“The infrastructure of our national parks is aging and in need of renovation and restoration,” Zink said.

REI, a recreation gear company, opened a Facebook discussion on the proposed fee increase. There were many who agreed with Zinke on the park increase.

Although, not everyone is on board with this fee increase.

There has yet to be any decision made on the entrance fees for national parks. Currently, all prices remain the same as previous years of $30 for a single car.

In addition, to help accommodate an increase in visitors, the National Park Service is offering the option to purchase park passes digitally.

This new system is called “Your Pass Now”. You can go to whichever National Park you want to buy a pass for and fill out the pass and visitor info.

This offer also allows pass purchasers to buy the pass however far in advance they would like.

The park has approximately 1,000 miles of hiking trails, nine visitor centers/museums, more than 1,800 archeological sites and 52 picnic areas, according to nps.gov.

Even with the increase in visitation and the possibility of an increase in entrance fees, Yellowstone National Park offers different opportunities for each person who visits.

March 13, 2019March 13, 2019 by Victoria Fowler Categories: Senior ProjectTags: fees, Grand Teton National Park, national parks, news, public lands, yellowstone Leave a comment

This land was made for you and me

Editorial Board voted 20-3

It all began in 1906: the protection of land.

From there, the Antiquities Act, the National Park Service, the National Environmental Policy Act, the Clean Air Act, etc. were born.

As of January of this year, 417 units have been added in the National Park System, with 59 national parks, 87 national monuments and 78 national historical sites, all of which cover more than 84 million acres.

And now, in 2017, we want to shrink this number.

We, as Scroll staff, stand behind the protection of public lands and want it to be known that we do not support the selling or diminishing of these national monuments that shape so much of this country.

On April 26, President Trump signed an executive order that can lead to the reduction or complete elimination of national monuments created since 1996.

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke is in the process of reviewing the 27 national monuments that are in question and is planning to have this assessment done by the end of August, according to The New York Times.

One of the most discussed national monuments in question is Bears Ears in Utah.

Bears Ears doesn’t only offer great expanses of land for public use, such as exploration and recreation, but is also the home of many native tribes, according to the Patagonia webpage.

Bears Ears has become such a big topic because of its size, which is roughly 2,000 square miles and, according to npr.org, “…is said to be encroaching on the rights of Utah residents.”

The rights these residents are concerned about is their ability to develop oil and gas drilling in these areas, according to NPR.

On the other side, native tribes and users of the public lands are concerned about clean air and water and the protection of archaeological sites containing tribal artifacts, according to National Geographic.

The concerns these Utah residents are facing shouldn’t be a priority. More harm than good will come from oil and gas drilling in these areas.

The struggle here shouldn’t be about money, but that is where we are putting it. It should be about human life and the world around us.

With this monetary blindfold being placed over our eyes, it is hard to see the world around us and how our physical actions can affect not only the land and people now, but generations later if there is anything left.

Unfortunately, if we, in the words of President Trump, in his remarks at the Interior Department, “free it up” and “return control to the people” there would be more economic struggles and less care for the land.

Because the federal government owns a great deal of land, they also come with the responsibility of making decisions in regard to recreation, habitat and wildlife conservation, mining, logging, grazing and oil and gas drilling.

The federal government balances all of these aspects of balancing priorities and funding. This is something many states couldn’t afford to manage.

Revealnews.org reported that states couldn’t afford to manage this much public land unless they open more of it to natural resource extraction.

In a study produced by the Bureau of Economic and Business Research prepared by the University of Utah, Utah State University and Weber State University on the transfer of federal lands to the state in Utah found that a land transfer of this magnitude would mean a major shift in the current economic structure for the state.

This study also showed that the research included how public lands contribute to the economic growth of local economies and the quality of life of Utah citizens.

The review of national monuments to give the land back to the states shouldn’t be in consideration. According to headwaterseconomic.org, these states perform better on the economic stage with federally funded public lands.

We can begin taking a stand by signing the petition by Patagonia to support Bears Ears National Monument. Until July 9, you can speak up at bearsears.patagonia.com/take-action.

We must use our public lands for good and take a stand.

We need land that isn’t flooded with industry and poor air quality.

We need land that will last.

We need to sign petitions and our voices need to be heard.

We must protect our public lands.

We must remember the words from the famous song by Woody Guthrie, “This land was made for you and me.”

 

The published article can be found at byuiscroll.org

March 13, 2019March 13, 2019 by Victoria Fowler Categories: BYU-I Scroll, Personal WorkTags: environment, national parks, outdoors, outside, protection, public lands Leave a comment

This land was made for you and me

It all began in 1906: the protection of land.

From there, the Antiquities Act, the National Park Service, the National Environmental Policy Act, the Clean Air Act, etc. were born.

As of January of this year, 417 units have been added in the National Park System, with 59 national parks, 87 national monuments and 78 national historical sites, all of which cover more than 84 million acres.

And now, in 2017, we want to shrink this number.

We, as Scroll staff, stand behind the protection of public lands and want it to be known that we do not support the selling or diminishing of these national monuments that shape so much of this country.

On April 26, President Trump signed an executive order that can lead to the reduction or complete elimination of national monuments created since 1996.

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke is in the process of reviewing the 27 national monuments that are in question and is planning to have this assessment done by the end of August, according to The New York Times.

One of the most discussed national monuments in question is Bears Ears in Utah.

Bears Ears doesn’t only offer great expanses of land for public use, such as exploration and recreation, but is also the home of many native tribes, according to the Patagonia webpage.

Bears Ears has become such a big topic because of its size, which is roughly 2,000 square miles and, according to npr.org, “…is said to be encroaching on the rights of Utah residents.”

The rights these residents are concerned about is their ability to develop oil and gas drilling in these areas, according to NPR.

On the other side, native tribes and users of the public lands are concerned about clean air and water and the protection of archaeological sites containing tribal artifacts, according to National Geographic.

The concerns these Utah residents are facing shouldn’t be a priority. More harm than good will come from oil and gas drilling in these areas.

The struggle here shouldn’t be about money, but that is where we are putting it. It should be about human life and the world around us.

With this monetary blindfold being placed over our eyes, it is hard to see the world around us and how our physical actions can affect not only the land and people now, but generations later if there is anything left.

Unfortunately, if we, in the words of President Trump, in his remarks at the Interior Department, “free it up” and “return control to the people” there would be more economic struggles and less care for the land.

Because the federal government owns a great deal of land, they also come with the responsibility of making decisions in regard to recreation, habitat and wildlife conservation, mining, logging, grazing and oil and gas drilling.

The federal government balances all of these aspects of balancing priorities and funding. This is something many states couldn’t afford to manage.

Revealnews.org reported that states couldn’t afford to manage this much public land unless they open more of it to natural resource extraction.

In a study produced by the Bureau of Economic and Business Research prepared by the University of Utah, Utah State University and Weber State University on the transfer of federal lands to the state in Utah found that a land transfer of this magnitude would mean a major shift in the current economic structure for the state.

This study also showed that the research included how public lands contribute to the economic growth of local economies and the quality of life of Utah citizens.

The review of national monuments to give the land back to the states shouldn’t be in consideration. According to headwaterseconomic.org, these states perform better on the economic stage with federally funded public lands.

We can begin taking a stand by signing the petition by Patagonia to support Bears Ears National Monument. Until July 9, you can speak up at bearsears.patagonia.com/take-action.

We must use our public lands for good and take a stand.

We need land that isn’t flooded with industry and poor air quality.

We need land that will last.

We need to sign petitions and our voices need to be heard.

We must protect our public lands.

We must remember the words from the famous song by Woody Guthrie, “This land was made for you and me.”

Published article can be found at byuiscroll.org

February 14, 2018February 14, 2018 by Victoria Fowler Categories: Written workTags: earth, national parks, public lands, United States Leave a comment