Here's an update to the Voyageurs National Park boat tours story. There currently are boat tours available, but not on the scale that will be possible thanks to the $1.4 million a congressman from Minnesota has directed to the National Park Service so it can build a 49-seat boat.
But the 50-foot-long boat won't be ready for duty until 2010.
“This funding restores one of the park’s signature services,” says Eighth District Congressman James Oberstar.
“Voyageurs has not had regular tour boat services for over a decade. This will allow park visitors, school groups and even private charters to take a one-day excursion and see the park’s dazzling scenery, abundant wildlife and important historical sites," says the Democrat. "There are so many back bays and historic gold mining sites that it will be hard for the park to fit everything into to one cruise.”
The park's rangers currently do offer summer interpretive boat tours, but as you can see from the picture on this page, the boats are not serious cruisers.
As for the new boat, a release says Congressman Oberstar worked with a broad-based group of partners to help secure funding for the boat. The money comes from 2008 Federal Lands Highway Category III - Alternative Transportation Program, and Rep. Oberstar just happens to be chairman of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.
The tour boat will be designed with the latest “green” technology, according to Rep. Oberstar, who says it will be "equipped with highly efficient engines that operate on bio-diesel fuel."
“The boat may be 50-feet long, but it will have a very small environmental footprint,” he says.
Comments
I'm curious as to what the source of this funding is - the first paragraph makes it sound like a Congressional earmark, but the last part sounds more like a private charitable donation. Perhaps the most surprising thing, however, is why hasn't the Park Service entered into an agreement with a private concessionaire to offer tour boat service? Would it really be so impossible for a private tour boat service to make a living in Voyageurs?
Being a House Committee Chair (Transportation) Rep. Oberstar has been bringing home the pork to Minnesota for quite a while now. It keeps him in office, seemingly indefinitely. I'm sure this funding is most likely seed money for a private-public partnership. I don't find it likely that a concessionaire could make a go of profitably running a tour operation because most of Voyagers visitors bring or rent boats to the park. As much as the locals detest Voyagers, they don't mind a little federal cash coming their way, however.
Are there no boat tours because most visitors bring their own boat, or do most visitors bring their own boat beacuse there are no boat tours?
Why do most locals detest Voyagers?
Perhaps this case points to a larger question across the National Park System: Just what does the National Park Service owe communities surrounding parks, and what do those communities owe those parks?
As I understand it, private concessionaires have not been able financially to make a go of running tour boats of this size through Voyageuers. If they can't, why should the federal government, via the NPS, subsidize that service? After all, not only is there the $1.4 million needed to pay for the boat, but then there's the annual O&M costs. And who will be driving the boat, who will be doing the interpretation, who will be handling the reservations and ticket sales, and who will be paying their salaries?
If every congressman/woman were able, like Rep. Oberstar, to divert $1.4 million to the park of their choice, without providing the necessary funds to wipe out the Park Service's massive $8.5 billion backlog, would that improve the state of the parks?
Should parks be seen as economic engines, or should they exist to conserve the resources for the enjoyment of future generations? Can they do both?
Just some questions to ponder on this May day.
Here in Minnesota, we will bring our own boats whether there was a tour boat or no. Boating is a very significant cultural activity, and many Minnesotans own boats or have access to one through family or friends. However, those visiting the park from outside the local area often rent boats and hire guides to get to the best fishing, or the best scenery. I could see how a tour boat could aid those who are unfamiliar with watercraft, or who are financially unable to rent a boat, get some enjoyment out a park that is mostly water. Is it a needed service? Most likely not. A way for a Congressman to move pork to his district? More likely.
I'm guessing, then that no one knows why locals 'detest' the park, as ironranger said earlier....
I could see why private tour boats would do well in some areas, such as Fort William Henry on Lake George, NY, and not in others such as Voyageurs. Lake George is associated more directly with American History and is easily accessible for all demographics. I've never been to Voyageurs but it seems more of a remote location, and lacks the easily distinguished tie-in to the historical? That being said, it's only accessible to limited numbers of people. As a result, there's naturally less potential for the private tour operators.