Posted on 11/23/2009 10:13:46 AM PST by originalbuckeye
Sometimes I think I’m in a Philip K. Dick novel and my country has ceased to exist, and everyone forgot to mention it to me.
So, we the taxpayers have to let the other citizens of the world get their chance at our national parks? Thanks Barry.
Allocate a certain percentage of permits to US citizens and have a fax/email reservation system that divvies up those permits. Reserve a smaller percentage for international visitors and let them have a separate lottery. Problem solved.
The current system is unfair in that it is much easier for an Arizona resident to get a permit than one from Indiana. The tour companies have utilized this to their advantage.
They already do something like what is being proposed for the rafting permits through the Grand Canyon.
What am I missing?
This country is going down the crapper.
Thanks libs. :D
Park rangers need to account for the people coming in and out of the canyon. They can only handle so many.
Of course the Sierra Club seems to have a privileged position for their tours.
Park rangers need to account for the people coming in and out of the canyon. They can only handle so many.
No Trespassing!
“Get off my lawn!”
So figure out how many people a ranger can handle (A), then how much it costs to keep a ranger on the payroll(B). Compute C = B / A. Add C to the cost of the permit, and hire as many rangers as needed from the fees paid.
That’s the feeling I get when I go to certain parks, especially Yosemite. You get that attitude that every step you take damages something on the ever growing list of critically endangered somethings and that it’s better that human beings not even tread there.
The idea that places of beauty might be privately owned and privately exploited was anathema to certain people in the government. Why should a place like Yosemite or the Grand Canyon be in the hands of only a few? Shouldn't ALL the people have access? And so the government set aside millions of acres so that ALL the people would be able to visit.
And then they limited the number of campers to 11,500 a year.
If a private company owned camping rights to the Canyon, a heck of a lot more than 11,500 people would have the pleasure. But the do-gooders efforts at making this something for ALL the people is a primary reason why it is available to so few.
Much of our country is empty. Why? Well, that's not a lot you can do with some of it. Opening up those lands to the public will NOT result in 5 million people camping in the Grand Canyon next Tueaday.
I see the National Parks as an exclusionary effort whereby the rabble are blocked and the elite get privileges. It's an indication of a feudal society. [/rant]
Yeah, but on the other hand, folks in Indiana have a much easier time getting into the James Dean museum in Fairmount. :-)
Reminds me of the scene from the movie “Into the Wild”, where Alex asks about where he should launch his kayak into the river and the park ranger informs him that he needs a permit and and by the way, the next available permit is in 8 years.
hearing this, Alex just takes his kayak, atop a shopping cart, and launches without permission and evades the “River Police” all the way down to Mexico.
Being in a 120 degree hole is not my idea of fun. We’ll make a stop at the gift shop, take some pictures, and maybe even hock some loogies over the side of the canyon rim - then its off to Lake Tahoe or Vegas baby, yea!!!.
“They already do something like what is being proposed for the rafting permits through the Grand Canyon.”
Yeah, I had to wait almost 9 years to get a permit to raft the GC. It was worth the wait. 21 days, greatest white water. The commercial trips of 7 days are good, but rowing your own boat is a once in a life time experience.
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