Basejumper.com - archive

http://news.yahoo.com/...ark_service_director

Park Service to seek new money sources By MARY CLARE JALONICK, Associated Press Writer
Sat Jan 13, 4:15 AM ET



WASHINGTON - The National Park Service's new director says the agency will increasingly look to outside sources for money to help maintain parks.

ADVERTISEMENT

"We're much more business-savvy than we used to be," said Mary Bomar, a career employee who became director in October, in one of her first interviews as head of the agency.

A Government Accountability Office report last year said the Park Service is increasingly cutting back on visitor services, education programs and protections for natural and cultural resources because funding has failed to keep pace with operating costs. The agency also has a huge maintenance backlog.

Bomar said the Park Service acknowledges it has challenges, including shrinking staff, aging facilities and a diminished visitor experience. Parks have also lost some of their relevancy and connections to younger generations, she said.

She said philanthropy will be a big part of a plan to revitalize and restore parks for the agency's 100th anniversary in 2016, announced this year as an effort called the "centennial challenge."

The agency wants to "look at projects where we could match and leverage funding," she said. "Why not?"

The agency is bringing in around 12 percent of its budget from outside sources, while a decade ago almost all of the budget was federally appropriated. Officers have been holding meetings with private interests to increase awareness of the agency's fundraising efforts.

Much of the private support for national parks comes through the National Park Foundation, chartered by Congress in 1967. In past years, companies such as American Airlines Inc., Discovery Communications Inc., Eastman Kodak Co. and Ford Motor Co. have each donated millions to parks.

Some critics have been concerned that more private funding could cross a line. In 2004, the agency proposed letting some employees solicit donations, accepting alcohol and tobacco company donations for the first time and giving donors the right to put their names on rooms, benches and bricks.

Those proposals were scuttled last year after criticism, and Bomar said she has no plans to revisit them.

As part of the centennial challenge, the parks plan several "signature projects," including a new visitor center at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii and restoration of Ellis Island in New York Harbor.

The Park Service has acknowledged that the aging Ellis Island complex has been neglected over the years, and the agency hopes to use some private dollars in an effort to restore the historic immigrant gateway.

Bomar said she has no plans to reopen the Statue of Liberty's crown, however, which has been closed to visitors since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

She was less forthcoming about other park policies, saying it would be "inappropriate to discuss" the issue of snowmobiles in Yellowstone National Park.

A temporary plan caps the number of snowmobiles entering Yellowstone at 720 a day and allows 140 snowmobiles a day to enter Grand Teton National Park and the John D. Rockefeller Jr. Parkway, which connects the two parks.

Critics say the vehicles contribute to noise and air pollution in the parks.

Late last year, the agency issued a draft statement proposing to maintain the current plan. A final decision is expected by next winter.

semi-related, my Girlfreinds father works for the NPS. he does some environmental stuff, and we have good talks. he knows i jump and where, and he thinks its funny. he gave me a fake nps 'jumpers list' for xmas, and i gave him one of those crossed out NPS stickers. he put it on his desk at the NPS office he works at. a really good guy, and he agrees that his company has a lot wrong with it.

There can be good and bad people in any organization.

maybe tom Dance can bring them some bacon

I was gonna send you a PM instead, but that takes more mouse-clicks so fuck it. Dude, I fucking sprayed my sandwich all over my monitor, I was laughing so hard. Well done, and thank you.

Btw, it was an egg sandwich but it didn't have any bacon on it. Where is Tom Dancs when you need him?

I would pay 100 USD for a day pass (to have my way with it) in any of 5 parks i can think of. thats a lot of extra money.

 

but rock climbers pose no threat to anyone else. ever. they never create rock fall, and they never have to be rescued. ever. i mean, we track into innocent bystanders every day. and knock rocks loose to tumble down and kill the hikers below the cliff.

Maybe if a bunch of people that were willing to pay the fines and lose some gear started doing the same thing Jan and them did, like once a week, and getting the news to cover it. If the people saw a ton of those type of things going off without any incidents, maybe it would be easier to work something out with NPS.

um, bad idea. i think. i dont think that an active protest is the way to do it. these are conservative, narrow minded people who see breaking the rules as a mortal sin, so i think we should stay in their panties and do it through the legal way.

At one point or another the ABP had a letter writing campaign, if I remember right. Couldn't a small group organize a system for applying for special use permits on a regular basis (once a week, or biweekly) stating our intention and willingness -as a group- to put up a given amount of money ($2,500-$5,000) as a sort of deposit that would begin to cover potential rescue costs?

In my dreams I imagine in the next 5-10 years, when BASE is open on NPS territory: **Something like** 3 hours to exit, for 3 days a week, for 3 months of the year. You would pay your $100, or $500 or whatever for the right to jump as much as you want from certain locations during a certain time frame. Does it sound like I'm taking crazy pills? It seems like a reasonable progression to get to this point. Are we really that far away right now?

I hate having to leave my own county for true big wall jumps; to avoid or lessen the likelihood of arrest and prosecution. Back to the point, though /how many people/ would pay say $500 a month for your park specific pass, or $5000 for the year for an all-parks pass? I bet in a few short years that number could easily be 50-100.

 
That would sound rational and it might work if rationality had any thing to do with it. Don't forget that there has been a pressident for a yearly permit in place for... how many years has bridge day been going on? The truth is reason has nothing to do with this. It's like an old timey fewed. One of those they think might go back to the cival war but it's been so long that no one really remembers any more. Most of the real arguments faded away and became irrelavent years ago. They just hate us because they hate us. They persocute us just on princable simple because it's the right thing to do. It's like the lake Powel thing. We really couldn't have a better case and the judge just looked at it all nodded his head that we were right and then sided with the NPS any way.
I remember rideing the buss in Zion. The "Big Atraction" was when they stoped and tryed to point out a pair of climbers on one of the walls. You could just make out two specks and the haul bag and I knew what I was looking for. The next bigest attraction was trying to spot a porkypine that was in a tree along the road. I remember thinking about the Lysebotin Ferry and how the base jumpers were the big attraction. Better then the captians goat imatation as the first mate tossed them some food. Imagion a load of jumpers landing on the sand bar three times a day. for all the tourest.
Even Money wont help with this. The only chance is to out live it. Our only hope is to hold out till all those people die or retire. We may have to wait till all the people they have raised die or retire. The one real danger is that they will pass a law specificly against base jumping. In one way that was a good thing about Powel. If they had won there is a real danger that they would have out lawed it out right. Notice the efforts to change the wording of there regulations. If they'd been a little smarter with how they had written it we'd be out for good. Just the fact that they tryed should show you that the emnity is still alive and well.
Honestly I'd guess we have at least ten more years before we have a chance. Probbably more. It's a shame Powel came along when it did in a few more years it might have had a chance.

Lee

Am I just being optimistic, then...thinking we have a chance to do something now, with a focused effort and a few bucks? Who's minds need opening up to the fact that BASE would be a great attraction? How long until they retire and start drawing their pensions? What elected officials and attorneys do we have on our side?

It seemed like a small victory for our side when the management policy showed a specific change (essentially removing the "parachutes are bad" language).

Still the brave and the relatively few will risk getting busted for the chance to get to some of the most amazing jumps the planet has to offer. If we're willing to risk that won't we make a few phone calls and fill out some forms to make the weekly permit application a reality? Maybe we're just a lazy as they need us to be...we aren't squawking loud enough, often enough, or in the right direction.

I heard that each application costs $50. Any know if that is true?

I don't really like the idea of paying to use the parks like that.... It set a bad precedent doesn't it? I'm thinking of bridge day, where they just keep jacking up the prices to have their staff their to "monitor" jumper's activities.

I too would pay $100 USD for that, but I just worry they'd jack up the price year after year.

I don't know what the answer is (apart from just giving unrestricted access ), but i'm not so sure that a one day fee is it.

ill take what i can get. and you know we all will.

We shouldn't HAVE to sneak around at night, or dodge NPS rangers for fear of arrest to "take what we can get." We know that charges could be somewhat serious and we know we'll be spending a night in jail if caught.

If I show up to an public land, and my exit, freefall and canopy ride have .00000001% chance of hurting and innocent bystander (or park visitor, or wildlife) why not take my $500 bucks and give me the month to have at it with the big E's in the area...Add to that -we could easily and quickly come up with a "retainer" call it what you want of like $5000 to $10,000 to cover the cost of rescue and/ or recovery if the stuffy old powers that be want security.

It's a win-win, they get more $ for whatever they choose and I/ We get to play on the cliffs: It just doesn't seem like an arrangement that is so freakin' difficult, or unwanted by the other side, or outlawed, or whatever...

What is the next step in the progression; and how does and average joe like me (probably most of you -with a few spare minutes to type to a message board at the end of the day) take??? I'm asking because I want to move our collective foot forward.

what i meant was,
if they say 500 a day, or week, i think a lot of people would pay it. but i dont think it should be like that as well.

Do you think it would be progress? Or would the man just be sticking it to us in a different way? I think it would be VASTLY better than what we are stuck with right now...

I say it would be a huge step forward. We could even take it to the extreme -Picture the headline all accross the BASE forum from AP press release: NPS ok's charge of $2,000 per jump from well-known national park cliff _(insert favorite object here).

They are now putting themselves in a position that gives US leverage. They have admitted 1) that they need and want OUR money, and 2) that they have a price. The next step is just to negotiate the price down in our favor (see massive group discount).

That's sorta what I was trying to get at

From 1st post that started this thread:

WASHINGTON - The National Park Service's new director says the agency will increasingly look to outside sources for money to help maintain parks.

We're much more business-savvy than we used to be," said Mary Bomar, a career employee who became director in October, in one of her first interviews as head of the agency.

"NEW DIRECTOR...HEAD OF AGENCY" it seems like an important set of new ears may be able to at least listen first before telling us no. Even if Ms. Bomar is a career NPS official she may be more friendly than the old establishment in terms of our cause.

BINGO!

Now that we've spotlighted the point. Are there any members of the BASE community who are working to get our poop in a group? Does anybody know if the ABP...nevermind.

What now?

Is anyone goint to chime in and say, yea. I got it. I/ We recognize that there is new leadership at the top and we're working on it. Or: I got my best guy (or lady) on it, or something?

base311 (Gardner Sapp), Robin Heid b44, and others I think, have been working toward this for a long time now via the ABP, or so I've heard. I have a feeling any new info like this, they probably knew about before us, hopefully, and they are probably working on it in their free time. Gardner is on here every once in a while and he will probably post in this thread when he sees it.

This is the last thing I got from them. September 7th

Dear ABP Members, Letter-writers and Action Alert subscribers:

Since we sent the press release regarding the ABP win in the NPS 2006
Management Policies, it has come to our attention that some of you still
have questions about what, exactly, this means. More specifically,
whether the new policies mean that one could jump in units of the National
Park system.

So I am sending this note to clarify:

YOU CANNOT CURRENTLY JUMP IN NATIONAL PARKS!

--at least not yet. Before parachuting in any national park unit may
be allowed, a formal planning process must first occur. We are
currently in conference with a unit now, and will initiate conferences with
additional units in days to come. As information becomes available about
these discussions and planning processes, we will notify you.

But to be clear: YOU CANNOT CURRENTLY JUMP IN NATIONAL PARKS (except
pursuant to the terms and conditions of a permit - e.g. Bridge Day 2006).

Thank you for your support and interest, and I apologize for the recent
flurry of activity on the ABP Action Alert list, but I hope you will
recognize the importance of the messages we've sent lately.

Stay Tuned,

K. Gardner Sapp
Executive Director
The Alliance of Backcountry Parachutists, Inc.
P.O. Box 38202
Atlanta, Georgia 30334
gardner@backcountryparachutists.org
http://www.backcountryparachutists.org/
--------------------
Before that I got an email on September 4th with the attached doc

Yea,

I got that e-mail too -along with the masses. I wonder what the current status is of the "conferences"...it actually sounds sort of hopeful.

Maybee the new director will see fit to **direct** a planning process that can allow for permits to be issued on a regular (even if it's spendy to us) basis.

It seems like, purely based on her position that she ought to be able to recommend or even initiate such a thing.

I hope so. If it wasn't for the $50 application fee that from what I've heard is always instantly denied, I would apply for a permit.