Here's a little follow-up to my post on the intrusion of volunteers into the national park landscape. It's a telling chart Brodie Farquhar made up to go with his story on park volunteers. Unfortunately, it didn't make it into the newspaper. Take a good look at it, particularly the growth of VIPs versus that of full-time NPS staff as well as the park staff that volunteers "replaced."
Year Volunteers Replaced staff NPS budget Full-time staff
1973 8,328 147 $498 M
7,133
2006 154,000 2,451 $2,653
M 20,056
Grew 1,849% 1,667% 530% 280%
Source: National Park Service Human
Affairs
The Growth of VIPs
Published Date
May 7, 2007
Story Categories:
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