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With the way he is able to manipulate data, Coburn would do great as a replacement for the Smokies Superintendent.
“Figures lie and lairs figure” is the old saying and there is no stronger example of that than politicians. It really is disgraceful to have people running my/our government who are so deceptive.
Millions of visitors, a few crimes, you really can't use numbers to discern a pattern but leave it to those people and their staffs to make a mockery of truthfulness.
Lee,
On page 3 of the Operating Procedures section of the National Recreation Reservation Service contract it says:
"The recreation use fee charged by the Agencies will generally include the cost of reservation services provided by this contract. However, a separate reservation fee may be charged, at the Agency’s discretion"
The language in the contract that pertains to recreation activities is basically the same. There doesn't appear to be any specific language in the contract regarding NPS policy on charging additional reservation fees so I'm not sure what the agency-wide policy, if there is one, would be. However, I think you might be on to something as NPS sites like Independence Hall and Frederick Douglass, that don't have entrance fees, do have a $1.50 reservation fee for free tours.
http://www.fs.fed.us/recreation/reservations/contract/Att_C-2_M4.pdf
http://www.fs.fed.us/recreation/reservations/contract/
And it can be COLD! (The older I get, the colder I get.)
Trouble is, that even the "off" season doesn't seem to turn off like it did once upon a long time ago. Parks stay busy until the snow starts to drift and seem to fill up again as soon as it begins to melt. It's all those blasted Senior Citizens who are infesting the parks now that they've retired.
Some great strategies, Lee. Of course, another would be to go during the off-season. Not only will you likely have your pick of sites, but you'll see another side of the parks' landscapes. Shenandoah, for instance, is much more "visible" after the leaves fall. A possible downside, though, is the water might be turned off.
Yes, that can be true . . . . Perhaps we were also just lucky. One of our very best assignments came when it was 101 miles to the nearest real grocery store and there was no TV available. On the other hand, our kids were not in school yet and, at the time, reservation schools were more than a bit questionable. But that was back in the days when BIA actually did stand for "Boss Indians Around." Nowadays, I'd much rather have my kids in a rural school than one in a city of any size.
All that aside, however, I hope your time with NPS will be at least as good as mine was and that you and yours will be blessed in anything you do and any place you go.
Here are a couple of possible strategies that have worked for me in the past.
North Rim, Grand Canyon - DeMotte is a USFS campground located about 12 miles outside the park boundary. It's a delightful camp and I've found sites open even in late afternoon. A stop at the information station at Jacob Lake can tell if it's worth pushing on to DeMotte or not. If all else fails, the Forest Service allows dispersed dry camping on most of the Coconino. Again, check at the info station. Personally, I think one needs to be somewhat insane to want to camp or even visit the South Rim.
Yellowstone - I usually stop at a Forest Service camp south of Island Park (or find a place to dry camp) and then make a run for Yellowstone very early in the morning. I camp at Norris and have always been able to find a site if I'm there by no later than 8 a.m. It's a hassle. But it's worth it.
More and more, I find myself using Recreation.gov. I prefer the phone method and have always found their people to be very polite and helpful. In fact, one time when I called to reserve a site in Zion, the fella told me that South Campground had not been filling and he really thought I wouldn't need a reservation unless I was aiming for Watchman. He was absolutely right. Even paying a reservation fee is worth it sometimes if it means a good dose of peace of mind while on vacation.
(However, I'm somewhat baffled by recent discussions of reservation fees with Rec.gov. Back in January, I used the computer and reserved a site at Arches for a week in June -- and a place on the Fiery Furnace tour -- and there was NO reservation fee charged for either of them. If there is a fee, it must be included in the park's fees. My Golden Age pass was accepted and I received my discount. The only time I can recall paying a fee was last week when I used ReserveAmerica to hold a spot for me at City of Rocks which is a combined NPS/Idaho State Park area. The lady I was speaking with sounded like an Idaho parks employee and I got the idea the fee was an Idaho thing. Does anyone know what the real story is?)
Normally I would agree, but quality of schools, availability of digital resources, shopping, and other "creature comforts" are important to my wife and kids. Being that far from many of these opportunities would be difficult for our family. I wouldn't mind, myself, but with family, it's different...
VW also helped our park unit with a three-year, no-cost lease for a Jetta TDI wagon. Between the improved mileage (48mpg vs. 15mpg for our Suburbans) and the free lease, we saved about $15,000 for our unit. Needless to say, we thanked them a lot.
The more I hear about this little place, the more fascinating it becomes. Here's a link that will take you directly to the site's Newspaper. Interesting reading! More and more, I'm looking forward to stopping there in August or September.
As for being out in the plains -- isn't it true that we make our own opportunities? Some of my best memories come from places that were far from anywhere. Often the best people you will ever find are found in those kinds of places. Reading the Nicodemus newsletter makes it seem that's also the case here. There's apparently a lot of community involvement and interest.
About the only drawback I can see to a place like this is the fact that there are no mountains around. Can't live without mountains!
Thanks, everyone for the visit and comments.
drew, they were both part of the same parks bill, too. Coincidence?
Chris, Thaddeus Kosziusko is indeed the smallest one on the "official" NPS list - which has two Denalis, among many other bits of inexplicable inconsistencies.
Bob, thanks for answering the other "smallest" question. As for your first comment, I'll say, "no comment." I know you know how inconsistent the NPS is here - and not always following congressional intent, I might add.
With many of you, I'm not always in agreement with congressional intent. But they do get to make the law.
Thanks, Lee and NPSurvivor. For what it's worth, the new superintendent arrived not too long before I finished this article. I can imagine your being concerned about isolation, you'd have to live outside Fort Hays (an hour away) to have decent opportunities.
Great story!
The Ice Age National Scenic Trail has an NPS stamp, has an NPS website, is on the web list of NPS areas in Wisconsin, has an NPS brochure, has an NPS superintendent, NPS owns 150+ acres for the "park" and NPS has a General Management Plan for its land but still the Ice Age National Scenic Trail is not an NPS unit. Go figure.
Nicodemus just got a new superintendent in 2012. It is so far out in the plains that my wife said I could not apply b/c of the kids (lack of opportunity).
I have to give some credit to the wikipedia entry for ReserveAmerica which mentions the Forest Service contract and recreation.gov, without source citations. Basically, doing a web search on "forest service contract recreation.gov" or "forest service budget recreation.gov" brought up some of those sources.
Recreation.gov is mentioned in most of the FS's budget justifications going back to at least FY07. FY14 budget said this on pg 12-19:
"The Forest Service is the contracting agency for the National Recreation Reservation Service (NRRS), part of Recreation.gov, an egovernment initiative. The contract is valued at $100 million to provide reservations for all recreation facilities on public lands that allow reservations. One task of administering the contract is to manage the pass through account for the reservation fees for all agencies. Over $13,000,000 annually is included in this program, and as more sites come on to the reservation system throughout the entire federal public lands system, this account will continue to grow. This program also requires five percent of the recreation fee collections to go towards regional offices that provides strategic program oversight, financial management, training, and grants to forests for improvements/special projects on the ground."
On page 12-18, the report does indicate that $12M of Forest Service recreation revenue comes from the National Recreation Reservation Service.
I did find what looks like the original contract solicitation and award on fedbizopps.gov https://www.fbo.gov/ There is not a lot of detail, but the original contract award was for $128M.
https://www.fbo.gov/index?s=opportunity&mode=form&tab=core&id=070ba47773b8c464fd56550152f879c9&_cview=1
GRSM initially received authorization to charge the fee under the condition they use recreation.gov. Here is a page in their correspondence says that the costs will go to pay for the reservation system and no additional revenue will be generated as a result of the fee, only to cover the recreation.gov service costs. What did GRSM do? They abandoned rec.gov in favor of their "own" system? What does this mean? That their system costs a quarter million per year? I don't know but here is a link to the document which says that. Check out page 4, paragraph 3. Just another misrepresentation by Dale Ditmanson regarding this fee.
And thank you KBenzar for illuminating recreation.gov. A canadian force driving fees in our national parks. They are now handling the "firefly" crisis for us here in the Smokies. How did we ever exist without them?
Amen, Lee Dalton. Facts are much appreciated. Thanks to Sara!
Sara, you amaze me. Thanks. We need more folks like you who are able to lay out facts instead of opinions.
I found this 2005 news release on the Forest Service website:
"The United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service today announced the award of a contract to provide a single, interagency federal recreation information and reservation service called the National Recreation Reservation Service (NRRS).
The three and a half-year, performance-based service contract was awarded to ReserveAmerica of Ballston Spa, N.Y. The contract provides for additional option periods for a total contract period not to exceed 10 years with a total potential value of $97 million."
http://www.fs.fed.us/news/2005/releases/06/recreation-system.shtml
In 2009, The Active Network acquired ReserveAmerica and thus the Forest Service contract. (http://venturebeat.com/2009/01/26/active-network-acquires-online-campsite-booker-reserveamerica/)
I found this on pg 12-9 of the FY13 Forest Service budget justification:
"The Forest Service is the contracting agency for the National Recreation Reservation Service (NRRS), part of Recreation.gov, an e-government initiative. The Forest Service has extended the contract through FY 2013, valued at $100 million to provide reservations for all recreation facilities on public lands that allow reservations."
http://www.fs.fed.us/aboutus/budget/2013/fy2013-justification.pdf
The recreation.gov domain must be registered to the Forest Service as only government entities in the U.S. can use .gov domains. What's not clear is whether the reservation system pays for itself, but you would hope at $10/reservation it is.
ecbuck, you're right. I didn't understand your point. Could you clarify please?
Thank you also Traveler for the update on the Pt. Reyes Oyster farm litigation. I realize it is a contentious issue, but hopefully the court will be able to settle it all out.
Mtnhiker - obviously the reference to your symantic juggling went over your head.
Hmmmm. Very, very interesting, KBenzar. Very interesting. Thanks for the tip.
It sounds like this is something that one of Kurt's crack investigators could have some fun researching. I see from their website that one of their locations is just south of me in Draper, Utah.
I keep wondering if there is ANYTHING in the world anymore that is just a plain, ordinary, straightforward operation that doesn't have a web of mystery surrounding it to protect their interests -- whatever those interests may happen to be.
Thanks for posting this information, NPT. The EAC of West Marin is an important voice in the effort to restore and protect natural areas in the Point Reyes area.