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G. Canyon underfunded, backers say
Flagstaff Arizona Sun ^ | October 13, 2005 | Cindy Cole

Posted on 10/13/2005 5:50:09 PM PDT by Graybeard58

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I was at the Grand Canyon this past June and am all for preserving our natural resources and scenic wonders and the Grand Canyon is certainly that,

While there I couldn't help but notice cars streaming in there all day long and wonderded then what that did with all that money at $20 per car.

I see now that some of it is going to "monitor endangered species". How does "monitoring" them help them in any way?

Some of the money is going to "hurricane recovery costs". I do not recall a hurricane hitting that part of Arizona, I must start paying attention.

Mexican spotted owl nesting sites, mountain lion and mushroom studies. All hyped by the Sierra Club. I am so impressed.

Employee housing? They can provide their own housing.

1 posted on 10/13/2005 5:50:09 PM PDT by Graybeard58
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To: Graybeard58

The Grand Canyon got along fine for a very long time with no Federal funding at all.


2 posted on 10/13/2005 5:53:34 PM PDT by RightWhale (Repeal the law of the excluded middle)
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To: RightWhale
Employee housing is "abysmal

Listed first, of course.

3 posted on 10/13/2005 5:55:13 PM PDT by ncountylee (Dead terrorists smell like victory)
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To: Graybeard58

Do the housing like the Army. Contract with a private developer and guarantee occupancy with the tenant paying market rent. The NPS problem is they want the govt to buy the housing and then let the employees live on the cheap.


4 posted on 10/13/2005 5:55:56 PM PDT by lp boonie (Good judgement comes from experience, and a lot of that comes from bad judgement)
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To: Graybeard58
some are saying ... will still be millions of dollars short of what it needs to do the job right.

That's a crock. What do they need the money for? They don't have to dig the big hole in the ground out again every year.

They don't even provide enough parking for the visitors that come. Instead, they want to cram people into busses, provided at park expense, rather than let people drive themselves. At least now it isn't trains, like Clinton wanted.

The Grand Canyon couldn't be destroyed by visitors if they tried. From the bottom of the canyon, you can't even see the huge hotels on the rim. And from the south rim, you have to use a telescope to see the huge lodge on the north rim.

I think they should close the national park entirely, and lease the land along the rim to private companies and individuals. Make some CCR's about what you can do so people won't carve jeep trails down in it or other stupid stuff. Make sure there are access points to public trails. And that's it.

The private sector would turn it into a huge economic bonanza. The tax money alone would be more than what we're getting out of this now. The canyon is about 250 miles long, but the road only follows maybe 50 miles, out of perhaps 500+ miles along rim. There's not even a hiking trail along most of the rim.

The fact that the government can't make a go out of the most awe inspiring place on earth is evidence that they can't do anything right.

5 posted on 10/13/2005 6:03:56 PM PDT by narby (Hillary! The Wicked Witch of the Left)
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To: Graybeard58
the park office that conducts scientific surveys is being "gutted" and archaeological sites that should get protection are being ignored as a result of perpetual budget shortfalls,

Scientists who have left in recent years haven't been replaced, leaving one Park Service wildlife biologist to monitor the threatened and endangered creatures living within the park's 1.3 million acres.

And the Grand Canyon, certainly known for its geology, has no park geologist and hasn't in recent memory,

Sky is falling! Sky is falling!.

No Geologist? Oh Gawd, the same, the horror.

One biologist to watch the frogs?

Leave the frogs alone. Leave the geology study to Universities with their own funding and their own PhDs, and just fence off the archeology sites.

It took millions of years to create, and it's not going away any time soon. And the lack of a few high paid government twits is not going to hasten its demise.

6 posted on 10/13/2005 6:07:28 PM PDT by adamsjas
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To: RightWhale

yep.

I have a real problem with nationl parks. Essentially they are taking a state's and keeping the state from using it as they best see fit.

The only real 'federal' land should be military reservations. No reason to have national parks except to buy votes and burn tax dollars.


7 posted on 10/13/2005 6:08:15 PM PDT by flashbunny ("Somebody up there really screwed the pooch on this one." - Another Poster on the Miers nomination)
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To: Graybeard58

Increase the entrance fee.


8 posted on 10/13/2005 6:20:31 PM PDT by Brilliant
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To: Graybeard58

How much does it cost to "maintain" rocks?


9 posted on 10/13/2005 6:24:29 PM PDT by dakine
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To: dakine

Given the liability that the canyon represents, I think the only responsible thing to do is to fill it in.


10 posted on 10/13/2005 6:52:17 PM PDT by billorites (freepo ergo sum)
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To: Graybeard58
I see now that some of it is going to "monitor endangered species". How does "monitoring" them help them in any way?

When they have recovered enough, you can take them off the list! :-)

11 posted on 10/13/2005 6:57:11 PM PDT by Gondring (I'll give up my right to die when hell freezes over my dead body!)
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To: Graybeard58

The perfect metaphor for big government - dumping money into a hole in the ground.


12 posted on 10/13/2005 7:03:41 PM PDT by thoughtomator
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To: flashbunny

The canyon is, after all, a hole in the ground. The Dept. of the inferior has managed to fraudulently obtain waaaaay too much money to do essentially little to nothing.

Shut National Parks down and let the states take over. Just because Teddy Roosevelt wanted hunting grounds doesn't make them Constitutional.

Last time I looked, the Constitution did specify for what purposes the Feds could own land. Customs Houses, Navy yards, Post offices, and a few more. But not one word about national parks.

Are we still bound by the Constitution? Is it obligatory for all Americans? Here's what the first American President said:
"The basis of our political systems is the right of the people
to make and to alter their Constitutions of Government. But the Constitution,
which at any time exists, 'till changed by an explicit and authentic act of the
whole People is sacredly obligatory upon all." --George Washington


13 posted on 10/13/2005 7:12:04 PM PDT by GladesGuru ("In a society predicated upon liberty, it is essential to examine principles)
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To: RightWhale

I've got a large ravine by my house and it doesn't receive any funding at all. This irks me to no end. That said, in the spirit of Ted Kennedy, I am thinking of seeking Congressional approval for my "Big Ditch." At least the gobbermint should give me enough scratch to hire Cletus up the road to drive his 56 Ford Pickup down here and haul off some of the old water heaters, beer cans, 3/4 empty Treflan drums and these rotted bags of DDT.

What's I goin' to do wifout my Fedrul Pograms? Who looks out for the little guy? After all....I just want my ditch clean for the children.


14 posted on 10/13/2005 7:14:14 PM PDT by George Stupidnopolis
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To: flashbunny
The only real 'federal' land should be military reservations

Well... That and Capitol Hill and the White House and the Supreme Court. We can't have an individual States controlling the land that the federal gov't operates from.

15 posted on 10/13/2005 7:32:17 PM PDT by BostonianRightist (I looted New Orleans and all I got was 40 of these lousy taglines.)
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To: BostonianRightist

"We can't have an individual States controlling the land that the federal gov't operates from."

That's why DC was never made a state...


16 posted on 10/13/2005 7:34:12 PM PDT by flashbunny ("Somebody up there really screwed the pooch on this one." - Jim Robinson)
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To: flashbunny

well, one of the reasons, anyway. There are other techinical reasons as well.


17 posted on 10/13/2005 7:34:57 PM PDT by flashbunny ("Somebody up there really screwed the pooch on this one." - Jim Robinson)
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To: RightWhale

They need to build another $14 million toilet and redecorate the director's office.


18 posted on 10/13/2005 7:49:10 PM PDT by henderson field
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To: adamsjas

I think we should hire a frog to watch the biologist.

It's more sensible and would be less expensive.


19 posted on 10/13/2005 7:51:42 PM PDT by henderson field
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To: Northern Yankee

just in case you get there *ping*


20 posted on 10/13/2005 7:54:50 PM PDT by kstewskis ("I don't know what I know, but I know that it's big".....Jerry Fletcher)
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