The proposal would impose fees of at least $50 per person (and more depending on vehicle type) on a select number of parks. In an ideal scenario, our lawmakers would understand the critical democratic role that preserving our public lands plays toward advancing discourse and inspiring generations toward natural and historic preservation, and would do their jobs and fully fund the National Park Service. For this reason, I cannot support any special consumer pricing, which would further result in our National Parks increasingly becoming the exclusive playgrounds of the privileged, wealthy, and elite. It is the responsibility of the National Park Service, the Park Service Foundation, supporters of the parks, and most critically, the Secretary of the Interior, to organize constituents and lobby lawmakers to adequately fund the National Park System. If you want to solve your problems, the National Park Service, the National Park Foundation, and chiefly, the Secretary of the Interior, must become vocal and tireless advocates and organizers in defense of public access, in the halls of Congress on an obnoxious and daily basis.

Source: Huffington Post December 16, 2017 18:11 UTC