Though the number of visitors to America's national parks has increased 25 percent over the past decade, federal funding for these facilities has remained essentially flat.
As a result, roads in the parks are dilapidated, tourist facilities are in poor shape, historic buildings are crumbling, park rangers are poorly paid and there are not enough of them.This sorry situation lends increasing urgency to a bill introduced by Sen. Dale Bumpers of Arkansas in an effort to get a fairer financial break from the some 9,000 concessions doing business inside the national parks.
At last report, the lodges, restaurants, souvenir shops, ski lifts, marinas and other such concessions in the parks raked in a total of $620 million in gross income. In return, the government received only $18 million - a return of less than 3 percent.
In an effort to boost returns to the taxpayers, Bumpers wants to require competitive bidding for concession agreements, set 10-year limits on such contracts and eliminate provisions that make it nearly impossible for a new bidder to wrest a contract away from an incumbent concessionaire.
Utah has a big stake in the fate of this legislation since this state's tourist industry is heavily dependent on the national parks in southern Utah. At the same time, the Interior Department lists Arches, Canyonlands and Capitol Reef among the 13 national parks suffering from the most serious deterioration.
Though the privately run concessions are certainly entitled to reasonable profits, the government clearly is not getting a fair return. Congress should move expeditiously to correct this imbalance, then plow the new revenue back into maintenance and improvements in the parks. These great scenic and recreational assets simply must not be allowed to keep deteriorating.