Parks in the News: Gettysburg

The promised refreshing post will come later today.  For now, some news.

http://www.nationalparkstraveler.com/2012/02/transit-system-designed-reduce-pollution-congestion-gettysburg-national-military-park9411

Now don't get me wrong, I absolutely love trying to reduce congestion in our parks.  I think Yosemite, for example, could benefit from Zion's example by introducing a mandatory shuttle to cut down on the herds of cars that plague the valley road.  Yosemite, however, is a perfect example of what I think is wrong with this particular project.

Yosemite is a lovely valley.  The valley (and rest of the park) are one of the great natural wonders of our world, and I encourage anyone to do anything that they legally can do to visit the place at least once in their lifetime.

That said, it can take upwards of an hour to drive to the other end of the valley, a distance of maybe 5 miles.  The traffic is only part of the problem, however.  Around the lodge and visitor center is, simply put, a circus. Acrobats were performing, stalls were set up to sell candy and beads, people were painting scenes of cities (yes, no inspiration to paint anything else nearby at all, of course not).  The "camping store" was a regular sized grocery store.  For comparison, think Niagara Falls, Ontario, and you get the level of tourist trap that turns an amazing natural wonder into a commercial orgy.  Apparently, the South Rim of the Grand Canyon offers a similar experience.  Zion, on the other hand, requires all but the disabled to ride propane powered shuttles into the canyon.  While the place is busy, it has a completely different air to it, and a quiet one at that.

Now, what are things like at Gettysburg, and how does this compare?  Much of the park itself is quite pristine, and a fitting monument to the sacred history that it preserves.

The funny thing is, no one was there.  This is not to say that crowds have not and stayed away, because they were all crammed into the shiny new museum and visitor center that bills itself the crown jewel of the park experience.  The crowds were attracted to the restaurant, the museum that you need to fork over 20 dollars a person to enter, and the shop that sold tons of memorabilia that was either made in China or some depressed part of south east Asia.  Business was thriving, throngs were moving about screaming and raving about riding nearby ziplines, and... it was all rather disgusting.  Now, if by chance you could see past the spectacle and want to take a guided auto-tour, that would set you back about 65 dollars.  Otherwise, the park itself did not require an entrance fee, but all the things you could pay for to fund a private "non-profit" organization were more attractive for people.

On top of this, actual uniformed park service employees were standing behind a meager information desk forced to solicit donations for the upkeep of, get this, not the park, but the actual "visitor center".  I have never seen more depressed NPS rangers in my experience of the park system, one of which was a well-seasoned veteran of the service.
She told me that the whole thing was under the private control of the Gettysburg Foundation, a non-profit interest group dedicated to revitalizing a park that the NPS had supposedly let decay.  "They said they are going to leave once they pay for all this.  I suppose that is not going to happen in my lifetime."

So now the Gettysburg Foundation has already secured funding from the Paul S. Sarbanes Transit in Parks Program to the tune of close to a million dollars in tax payer money.  This is all for a few electric billboards here and there to inform people that "the lot is full", while it is being trumped up as a green, money saving initiative.  If you ask me, a fraction of that funding would be better spent giving local teens and college students summer jobs to direct motorists to open parking.  In the meantime, parks such as Grand Canyon, Yosemite, and Acadia would better benefit from this funding for clean shuttle programs.  Sadly, a capitalist venture has succeeded in starting to control a sacred site.  Imagine the outrage if Arlington were similarly sold out!

Don't misunderstand the issues here.  Free enterprise and the economic benefits generated by our park system are good things.  I for one absolutely love it when nearby communities benefit strongly from the presence of a park, as is the case in Springdale, Utah or Estes Park, Colorado.  I have no problem with partnerships with the NPS either.  The Western National Parks Association and Eastern National are great organizations, admitted profit organizations, that exist to promote these treasures (while, yes, making an honest dollar on the side) and serve to educate the public on them.  Instead of building a large complex full of junk, however, they rent a small space from existing visitor centers owned by the NPS and other governmental agencies.   Their staff is knowledgeable, and they often repeat caution and advice given to visitors by the ranger staff.  When a private business manages to push its way closer and closer to control and ownership of a public site, however, the line is crossed.

By all means, if you go to Gettysburg, and you should, enjoy what was there before the mall moved in.  Do not get put off by the commotion back at the circus tent, and definitely do not throw away 65 dollar for an audio head set to listen to older research that the "foundation" has profited from.  Take a drive and walk around the battlefields, and listen to the free talks given by rangers and volunteers.  Read the signs and memorials indicating what happened in a given spot.  Visit the actual town of Gettysburg if you still want some cheese souvenirs or a good place to have lunch; the town was there before the mess, and it will most likely long survive it.