New Petition Against GSMNP Backountry Camping Fees
There is an online petition up now here if anyone wants to sign it
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/gsmnp_backcountry_fees/
GSMNP petition drive
Don't be surprised if there is less than overwhelming support for this effort. Some of us are aware that our parks are chronically underfunded and think it quite appropriate that those who stand to benefit most from them do more to support them financially. Given current economic circumstances, it is not reasonable to expect increases in funding for our parks from traditional funding mechanisms.
Last edited by emerald; 08-18-2011 at 14:00.
I'm with emerald on this one. The park charges for front country camp sites (imagine the total disaster if they didn't!) If we can get better service for a small fee, I'm all for that.
I'm with you I am all about supporting the National Parks I mean 10 to 20 bucks is certainly reasonable for a night in the park. Especially the GSMNP because it is the only park in the US that has free entry so paying to camp not a problem for me.
If you can’t fix it with duct tape or a beer; it ain’t worth fixing
Absolutely - pay for what you use. Don't want to pay for it - don't use it. Pretty simple.
I agree that GSMNP is one of those GREAT places that needs to be preserved and maintained. Doesn't bother me to pay.
Seek, and you shall find.
so backpackers have to pay while day hikers don't. I would guess there are more dayhikers than backpackers who use the trails. Backpacking in the Smokies is declining and now they want to charge..brillant move
Conquest: It is not the Mountain we conquer but Ourselves
The greatest recreational impacts by hikers result from overnight stays and one of the more sensitive areas of GSMNP may be the remote areas along the ridgeline accessed by the popular Appalachian Trail.
Dayhikers are more likely to be staying in a campground stopping at the visitor centers purchasing things that all go to the park. Thru hikers are just passing thru in most cases and are not applying monies for use. They are only wanting to charge for campsites how that affect a dayhiker anyway.
If you can’t fix it with duct tape or a beer; it ain’t worth fixing
Dayhikers still have to use the same trails to hike on as backpackers. What extras do you get at a backcountry site. You get cables and that is it.
There is no way rangers can hit every campsite every night to see who is there.
If the park needs/money charge the horse people who tear up the trails and campsites worse than anyone.
Start charging for the cars that go through Cades Cove..tons of money to be made there.
It seems to me the park is picking on the group of people who use the park the least.
Conquest: It is not the Mountain we conquer but Ourselves
I hang in a hammock already so I don't mess up the ground. I don't build fires and I could just as easily hang my food bag with a rope so I am not sure why I would need to pay something. Also I always have wanted to thru hike the AT and this will apply to thru hikers too which sucks.
The petition is a great thing. The parks are grossly underfunded, but not because they don't generate enough revenue. They do. The money brought in by the parks goes into a "General fund" which is divded up and spread around the gov't as determined by congress who feel that the parks deserve just enough to sustain themselves. If you think the money generated by the backcountry fees will go toward supporting the park....you are mistaken. It's just another tax. A wolf in sheeps clothing if you will.Originally Posted by emerald
Please pardon those of us who fail to see that through hikers who choose to use hammocks are all the more entitled to special privileges.
All A.T. through hikers in GSMNP are required to stay at and in fact in the shelters specified on their permits, provided space is available.
Last edited by emerald; 08-18-2011 at 17:09.
I have no real problem with paying the park service money, although I feel there are better ways to generate income. Why not an axle fee for bringing your vehicle into the park? A mere couple of bucks per car would surely generate more money than charging the proportionately small number of back country users for campsites ... and people still won't be charged to enter the park, they will be charged to bring their car with them. So I signed not because I think hikers or anyone else should be entitled to free access to public lands (I'm not even going to touch on that on this site), I signed because the logic of charging a small sample of the population that makes use of the great smoky mountains national park doesn't make any sense if the goal is economic viability for the park service and better environmental resource management.
it is strange that a man would put the pieces together as they please opposed to being content with where the pieces fall
It's not so much the fee to me, although I can get a little spun up about it when I think of how money is wasted. But that reservation system will keep my out of the park if it goes in effect as some are speculating; just no good for my type of hiking. Will wait and see...
online petitions are worthless
Not really sure about that. Other parks at least claim the money is used for the park itself.
http://www.nps.gov/bibe/planyourvisit/bcpermitfee.htm
it is strange that a man would put the pieces together as they please opposed to being content with where the pieces fall
Their web site says the park has to be free to drive-up visitors because the highway through the pass (441 -- Newfound Gap Rd) was given to the feds by the states with the stipulation that no toll be charged.
It's not clear to me how this prevents the park from charging for the parking lots just like the National Seashore does at all its popular beaches (but parking for less popular points like the Beach Forrest trail in Eastham are free).
qft
.......
Hmmm...well guys - here's my two cents on the issue. GSMNP is the most used (overused) National Park in an overused and underfunded system. In essence the park is the "all star in the spotlight" for irreparable damage to it's resources no matter how many smart replies try to manipulate and spin that statement. The park system is falling apart from cuts to funding and management and the pressures are highest at THIS park. Federal politics make grass roots funding (will the $ from these fees go to GSMNP - or "into the great wide open"?). The exception to this is if support organizations like "Friends of GSMNP" (who rebuilt the Mt. Cammerer firetower themselves) - get involved and help those monies go back directly to GSMNP. I would be for paying (in general) because the parks need every cent. - but I would REALLY be for it - if I had a good reason to think it would go directly back to THIS park - that NEEDS IT MOST. Any petition would need to relect that. I have tried to do this with some of the beleagured GA state parks and it was a quagmire - so expect a bigger one with the Dept. of the Interior and the NPS involved. Good Luck!
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