A small group of congressmen is lobbying President Obama to put a little extra in his budget request for the National Park Service so more parks can be "wired" for cellphone and WiFi.
"Since its founding, our National Park Service has set an example for the world to follow, and we believe that investing in 21st century telecommunications infrastructure is critical to maintaining that leadership," reads the letter. "In honor of the Park Service's centennial, Director Jon Jarvis has commited to providing free public WiFi at all park visitor centers by the end of 2016. This is an important step to improving connectivity in park units. However, additional resources will be necessary to continue this momentum into future years."
The letter (attached below), sent on Wednesday, was signed by Rep. Jared Huffman, D-Calif., Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., Niki Tsongas, D-Mass., Derek Kilmer, D-Wash., and Jared Polis, D-Colo.
The five voiced their belief that expanding WiFi signals in the National Park System would help attract a more diverse audience of visitors.
"... improved connectivity will help to make our parks accessible and engaging to changing park visitor demographics," they wrote. "It will also support the Park Service's long-term goals of improving public safety, providing greaer interpretive services, and meeting the needs of the visiting public."
Comments
Why dont we fix the parks infrastructure before we spend money on Wi Fi..
Resistance is futile; you and the parks will be assimilated!
Noooooooo!!! That's why I go to the Parks -- to get away from the electronic assault.
It's kind of disappointing to see that list of august names as authors, though they don't provide any details as to the location or kind of services they're talking about. And you know what they say about the Devil being there ...
Parks Canada has embraced adding wifi which has allowed users to receive park updates & book campgrounds.
Wait a minute. The NPS is screaming that visitation is out of control and the sky is falling, but they want to provide WIFI to attract more visitors? I also go to the parks to get away from that crap. It's just another way Jarvis can scream for money. He is unbelievable. But that is the way it works when you have lockstep, robot politicians in your pocket who believe everything Mr. Smoky Bear tells them. Padding visitation stats is just one mechanism by which Jarvis and gang manipulate public opinion.
Many parks need the bandwidth to support existing users before we add more demand.
backpacker--just how many politicians does Jarvis (by the way, Smoky the Bear is a USFS symbol) have in his pocket? Have you ever watched a Congressional hearing when he was a witness? The ones asking the questions must have slipped out of his pocket. Get real.