The sun shines on High Point State Park, N.J. (Nicholas T / flickr)
I’ve heard the cries before. “Turn publicly-owned and -managed parks over to private management companies,” budget hawks like to say. “Why is the state in the business of parks?’
There’s a good reason why we have state parks.
Establishing parks became priority number one for … wait for it … Republicans during the latter part of the 19th century when pristine wild areas like Yosemite and Yellowstone were threatened by the kind of commercial development one finds at Niagara Falls in New York. They also wanted to avoid over hunting since the bison population had been depleted to the point of oblivion.
Back then, the mission was (as it is today) to keep our national and state parks open and available to all citizens, not just the wealthy.
That hasn’t stopped some, though, from saying cash-strapped state governments shouldn’t be in the park business. New Jersey’s GOP Gov. Chris Christie appointed a task force to look at how the Garden State can save money, and the commission reported that savings could be found by turning the management of its state park system over to private industry, among other measures.
Christie said:
“What they have provided is a path for change that will benefit New Jersey’s taxpayers through improvements in the quality of public service programs and services delivered to our citizens without placing further burdens upon the state budget. I look forward to further reviewing these recommendations.”
The Sierra Club, naturally, wasn’t enthused:
Jeff Tittel, director of the New Jersey Sierra Club, was critical of the recommendation to privatize state parks. He said private companies would be more concerned about the bottom line than the public interest.
“Leasing the jewels of New Jersey to private companies is a violation of the public trust,” he said.
There’s a reality, though. Parks everywhere aren’t charging admission fees which keep up with the rate of inflation; meanwhile, the cost of running the parks continues to go up with employee health insurance, energy costs, maintenance, construction and so on. And state’s like New Jersey are seeing drops in tax revenue as people are out of work (can’t pay income taxes) and aren’t buying things (meaning fewer sales tax dollars).
Getting in a financial pinch hurts. And keeping wild places wild costs money.
The mission of public parks, though, cannot be undermined. They need to be open and accessible to all citizens, and if state parks see private interests become management partners, that must be first and foremost in any agreement. Personally, I’d rather have the park management in the hands of the public sector where we can hold those in charge accountable.
And never, ever, should private interests become the land owners.
Never.
