How to help preserve the national park system
Re “Rangers Among Parks’ Rarest Sights,” June 11
The national park is an American idea, nurtured by great presidents such as Theodore Roosevelt. Yet annually we learn of the park service’s budgetary problems growing worse. The substitution of contractors for fully trained rangers is penny wise and pound foolish considering the full range of responsibilities assigned to a park ranger, including after-hours emergencies.
The administration evidently cannot find the funds to adequately operate the parks, and it contemplates ignoring the maintain-in-perpetuity portion of the 1916 Organic Act that defines the national parks idea. To think our national parks should be turned into revenue-producing amusement parks, snowmobile playgrounds or hunting reserves boggles the mind.
May I suggest canceling the “royalty forgiveness” idea for oil companies operating on public lands, or dropping a few of the subsidies to coal mining companies? How about dropping the next tax cut for the upper 1%?
The list goes on -- as does the wear and tear.
ROBERT SIEBERT
Orange
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