MAGA

At the urging of a controversial team of advisors, the Trump administration is mulling proposals to privatize national park campgrounds and further commercialize the parks with expanded Wi-Fi service, food trucks and even Amazon deliveries at tourist camp sites.

Leaders of the Interior Department’s “Made in America” Outdoor Recreation Advisory Committee say these changes could make America’s national parks more attractive to a digitally minded younger generation and improve the quality of National Park Service facilities amid a huge maintenance backlog. As part of its plan, the committee calls for blacking out senior discounts at park campgrounds during peak holiday seasons.

“Our recommendations would allow people to opt for additional costs if they want, for example, Amazon deliveries at a particular campsite,” said Derrick Crandall, vice chairman of the committee and a counselor with the nonprofit National Park Hospitality Assn. “We want to let Americans make their own decisions in the marketplace.”

But the group’s proposals face angry opposition from conservation organizations and senior citizen advocates, who call them a transfer of public assets to private industry, including businesses led by executives appointed to the Outdoor Advisory Committee.

[...]

“The cost of a senior pass already jumped in recent years from $10 to $80, and this proposal would further hurt older Americans who want to visit national parks. Enough is enough[,” said Bill Sweeney, senior vice president of government affairs at AARP.]

[...]

Crandall and the advisory committee were somewhat surprised by the backlash, especially from groups representing retirees and the elderly.

“If we’d known there’d be a big pushback to proposed blackouts on senior discounts, we might have dropped that off the list,” Crandall said. “All we’re saying is that it may not make sense on peak days like July 4 weekend to let seniors compete with a family with kids for a campsite.”

  LA Times

How old are these people? Twelve? They were surprised by AARP pushback!

Since taking office, President Trump and his administration have sought to privatize an array of public services, including parts of the Veterans Administration and the U.S. Postal Service. At the same time, the White House has sought to reduce spending for many public services, such as its plan to cut the National Park Service’s budget by $481 million in 2020.

Critics say the administration is engaged in a self-fulfilling prophesy, arguing that private industry can deliver better than the public sector even as the White House starves public agencies of resources. But what really angers opponents is how corporate donors and businesses with a vested interest in park privatization have been invited by the Trump administration to offer proposals for further concession opportunities.

I don't know what you do about that last part, because industry "advising" government has been going on as long as I can remember.

According to a memo first published by the Washington Post, business services officials of the National Park Service in 2017 warned that four people nominated to serve on the panel had potential conflicts of interest.

Three of them were selected as members: Crandall, whose association includes some of the largest concessions management companies in the U.S.; Jeremy Jacobs Jr., co-chief executive of Delaware North Cos., Yosemite National Park’s former facilities operator, whose family has donated at least $167,700 to Trump’s campaigns and political committees; and Bruce Fears, president of Aramark, which holds a $2-billion contract to run hotels, eateries and campgrounds at Yosemite.

[...]

Other committee members include Jim Rogers, former president of Kampgrounds of America, the largest privately owned campground system in the world, and Brad Franklin, government relations manager at Yamaha Motor Corp. USA, a producer of electric-powered bicycles.

[...]

The committee’s proposals would make their concession contracts more profitable than ever. They call for “categorical permissions” to sidestep environmental impact reviews for campground expansion and development, and new policies to ensure that concessionaires be compensated for investments and assets when a competitor is awarded its contract.

[...]

Bernhardt says nearly $12 billion is needed to meet the National Park Service’s maintenance needs. But Gentile, in a 2017 analysis, determined that only $1.3 billion of the backlog is considered priority maintenance by the service, and about $389 million is earmarked for concession facilities within national parks.

“Bernhardt’s claim is disingenuous,” Gentile said. “The concessionaires, and not taxpayers, should be paying for upkeeping their for-profit gift stores, hotels and campgrounds.”

You mean they're NOT?! WTF?

Former Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, who resigned two years later amid investigations into his real estate dealings in his home state of Montana, organized the advisory committee in 2017. Up until then, federal land agencies and outdoors enthusiasts had reached something of an accord on privatization issues.

Zinke's stink is still on the system.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.