National parks: Commercializing them is terrible idea

Re: “Trump team has plan to privatize, commercialize national parks,” (TNT, 11/5).

The Department of the Interior is just the latest instance of the Trump administration proposing to harm what a federal department was charged to protect.

Its so-called “Made in America” Outdoor Recreation Advisory Committee recently released several jaw-dropping proposals to despoil our beloved national parks.

Not surprisingly, members of the committee come from businesses that stand to profit most from such efforts. Glaringly absent from the committee are representatives from national conservation organizations such as The Trust for Public Land or The Sierra Club; also missing are citizens who use national parks.

The committee’s outlandish proposals include letting Amazon deliver packages to campground guests, allowing food trucks in campgrounds and discriminating against seniors by blacking out campground discounts during peak seasons.

These proposals would Disney-fy already overstretched and overcrowded parks such as Mount Rainier instead of encouraging sustainable stewardship and usage.

If the Trump administration were truly interested in supporting parks, it would restore the $481 million budget cut planned for 2020 and include voices of diverse and representative stakeholder groups in planning for its future, not just those greedily clamoring for privatization.

This story was originally published November 20, 2019 at 4:00 PM with the headline "National parks: Commercializing them is terrible idea."