Anecdata but a few friends and people I follow on Instagram in various states (WA, WI, MI, NY) have been posting polls every few days asking if people are comfortable attending an event/concert, going to a restaurant, getting on a plane...the results are consistently in the 80%-90% range "no" for all of these across these states. Things open up, will I go sit down in a restaurant? No. Do I want to go to larger events right now? No. All I want, really, is to go camping.
No because I'm only going backcountry or dispersed camping, nothing that involves car camping. Edit: I think the last time I used an outhouse would have been in Jasper in summer 2018?
At first, it's like "oh, camping, middle of nowhere, shouldn't be an issue", but then you realize that you're creating demand for e.g. park rangers to man their posts. Maybe there's a happy medium, I dunno. I do know that this is not a happy medium, it's a bunch of white people celebrating Cinco de Mayo without a single mask in sight. We need like a social shaming app. China, if you're listening
I have mixed opinions on this and any lengthy response will only become impassioned so I'm going to refrain outside of giving a lot of links and letting people make their own conclusion. (total visits in millions, by calendar year) Year Number of Visits (in millions) Year Number of Visits (in millions) 2010 281.3 2015 307.2 2011 278.9 2016 331.0 2012 282.8 2017 330.9 2013 273.6 2018 318.2 2014 292.8 2019 (thr. May) 101.9 Year Number of FTEs Year Number of FTEs FY2010 22,211 FY2015 19,539 FY2011 22,051 FY2016 19,722 FY2012 21,830 FY2017 19,668 27 For more information on federal government shutdowns, see CRS Report RS20348, Federal Funding Gaps: A Brief Overview, by James V. Saturno. 28 NPS’s staffing estimate for FY2019 was based on an appropriations baseline of $3.202 billion derived from a continuing resolution, whereas the final NPS appropriation was somewhat higher at $3.222 billion (excluding supplementals). National Park Service Appropriations: Ten-Year Trends Congressional Research Service 18 Year Number of FTEs Year Number of FTEs FY2013 20,720 FY2018 19,032 FY2014 19,894 FY2019 (est.) 19,114 https://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/national-parks-remain-open-staffers-worry-they-are-risk-covid-19-coronavirus https://www.nrpa.org/blog/coronavirus-what-impact-will-covid-19-have-on-parks-and-recreation/ https://www.outsideonline.com/2277446/public-lands-war-timeline https://www.npca.org/articles/2457-president-trump-s-proposed-budget-cuts-target-national-parks https://www.sierraclub.org/press-releases/2019/10/trump-administration-plans-privatize-national-park-campgrounds https://e360.yale.edu/features/open-for-business-the-trump-revolution-on-public-landsAs of 2016, the National Park Service has an annual budget of about $3 billion and an estimated $12 billion maintenance backlog.[17]
Table 4. Annual Recreational Visits to the National Park System, 2010-2019
Table 5. NPS Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) Staff, FY2010-FY2019
I can’t imagine how strained the system will get when people start feeling like it’s safe to move around again. :/
Yup. The feds created this mess, specifically the senate. The budget doesn't work for the national park systems. increase 30 million visitors over the course of a decade and decrease 2.5k full time employees in that time frame, increase billions in additional park maintenance backlog in that same frame. And then try and privatize the national park system system because it "doesn't work", or reduce the size of parks, etc...it's the same fucking thing this administration is trying to do to the USPS and it's systemic abuse by our Executive and Legislative branches to both of those organizations. This is one of the things that pisses me off the most and when people act high and mighty about park use + safety in our current environment it realllllly gets me going. Like, oh now you care are you donating to parks? Are you writing your senators? Or are you just telling people what to do from afar? Not directing this at you, but I'm seeing a lot of this lately. And it pisses me off.
... , Harry! It could explain some of the self-loathing, though. Edit: hey, as far as you know, I'm a Katy Perry singing hick