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Wednesday, May 18th, 2016

National Parks on the Verge of Taking Corporate Funding

Author:     Sam Knight
Source:     Alternet (U.S.)
Publication Date:     17 May 2016
 Link: National Parks on the Verge of Taking Corporate Funding
Stephan:   Although it is getting almost no coverage in corporate media I have been following this trend to privatize the national parks for several years now. This is happening because the Republicans in Congress are cutting back on the budgets for the national parks and forests, leaving them without enough money to operate properly -- which forces them to look for other ways to keep the parks going. If the Republicans cannot get the parks privatized outright they can make them subordinate and dependent on corporations for funding, which will end up being much the same thing. This is despicable, but so typical of what the United States has become.

national parkThe National Park Service (NPS) is proposing a relaxation on rules governing corporate partnerships in a move that could see parks increasingly commercialized and dependent on the whims of private donors.

Some park superintendents will be asked to help raise up to $5 million in individual gifts, according to the NPS proposal.

In return, the service will allow the use of park names and imagery in corporate advertising campaigns. NPS will also allow the display of corporate logos in park infrastructure through “donor recognition.”

NPS leaders said the liberalization is needed to fund $11 billion in maintenance projects, with Congressional appropriations unreliable. From 2013-2015, the park service received on average about $2.5 billion annually from Congress.

Jeff Reinbold, NPS associate director for civic engagement, told The Washington Post that the policy “gives us new opportunities and new tools.”

The NPS has been criticized for its new take on philanthropy by some conservationists.

“We are concerned that influence peddling will soon become a major recreational activity in our national parks,” said Jeff Ruch, the executive director of […]

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