Parks Gear Up For Season And Sequester

By Laurel Morales, KJZZ News, for Fronteras

FLAGSTAFF – Almost 300,000 people visited Big Bend last year.  National park visitors brought in $30 billion to parks and their nearby hotels and restaurants in 2011, according to a peer reviewed report released Monday.  However, that number could take a hit if sequestration goes into effect.

National Park Service Director Jonathan Jarvis told reporters parks will have to find a way to cut five percent, if Congress doesn’t reach a budget deal by the end of the week.  As parks gear up for the summer, they face shorter seasons, closed campgrounds and hiking trails.

Jarvis says he’s concerned about the impact to visitor safety as parks may have to furlough rangers.  And many parks won’t be hiring a lot of their seasonal summer employees.

JONATHAN JARVIS:  “Many of them returning seas that have extraordinary skills in fire  +fighting and search and rescue and river running.  If we’re not able to hire that seasonal workforce then clearly our capacity to respond to emergencies will be reduced.”

Jarvis says the majority of a park’s budget is fixed, which means items such as trail maintenance, school visits and other discretionary programs will be cut first.