What do you say about Toyota giving an $800,000 check -- along with the keys to five rigs -- to the Yellowstone Park Foundation? Thank-you-very-much, or thanks, but no thanks?
Was this corporate green-washing at its worst, or a wonderful gift that will benefit Yellowstone National Park and children who know too little about the natural world?
Against the backdrop of the Bush administration's Centennial Initiative, the donation is pretty impressive. After all, the car maker obviously doesn't care if its dollars will be matched by the government. Cynics, though, might accuse Toyota of simply trying to grab some green ink.
And yet ... at a time when dollars for park programs are so scarce, shouldn't this sort of donation be welcomed and even encouraged? Or, does it simply provide evidence that Congress doesn't need to fully fund the parks, that corporate partners can be found -- at least for the jewels of the National Park System -- to fill in the gaps?
If you've followed the Yellowstone Park Foundation over the years, you know its been pretty adept at taking corporate dollars and inserting them into useful programs at Yellowstone that gain recognition not for who donated the money, but for what was accomplished.
Toyota's donations, made today in Yellowstone, were packaged as being given in support of "instilling a preservation ethic and promoting environmental stewardship among visitors." The monetary portion is intended to be used by the Yellowstone Park Foundation to bolster curriculum and improve accessibility of its educational programs to youth.
“Toyota and Yellowstone National Park both share a vision in developing future environmental stewards from the onset to encourage long-lasting conservation values,” said Dian Ogilvie, senior vice president of Toyota Motor North America. “We are proud to work with Yellowstone National Park and contribute to educational initiatives which will expand the park’s reach to even more communities and groups who have not yet experienced the beauty of Yellowstone.”
The "No Child Left Inside" initiative offers a range of educational programs that are intended to motivate students to take responsibility for their everyday actions to ensure a more sustainable society; encourage creative problem solving and critical-thinking skills through hands-on experimentation; and motivate students to educate others by sharing their preservation values.
Toyota's financial support goes towards programs such as "ParKids," which are summer educational workshops focused on environmental stewardship; Junior Ranger and Young Scientist programs that collectively reach more than 22,000 children annually; the Native American Cross-Cultural Exchange program, which is tailored to provide a residential camp experience for fostering relationships between Yellowstone Park and tribal youth; and the Yellowstone ESCAPE (Enhancing School Curricula with a Park Experience) program that incorporates both an Educational Day Use Program for school groups and three Teacher Training Workshops per year.
Present at today's press conference was Chris Lehnertz, the park's deputy superintendent, who said it is "essential" that today's youth come to appreciate the natural world "for the benefit of their personal development and well-being.”
“We focus on teaching students about Yellowstone’s natural and cultural resources to promote stewardship of open space and ecosystems worldwide, and are grateful for Toyota’s contribution in helping us develop future environmental leaders,” the deputy said.
Toyota also is contributing dollars and vehicles to help benefit Everglades National Park, Grand Canyon National Park, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Yosemite National Park and the National Park Foundation.
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Comments
Jim Macdonald,
You raise several important cautions about the current crop of 'creative' income-generators Parks are working out with corporations.
Conservatives like to say, "The price of freedom is eternal vigilance". That's really true about a lot of things in life ... and in the National Parks. Rarely can we make a single-shot investment to create a certain arrangement, and expect our achievement to remain as-is without further effort ... without monitoring, reassessing, and generally remaining vigilant.
Privatization of Parks is a worry many respond to. Funding can be arranged with the private corporate sector, though, without putting Parks under private control. We have to stay on our toes, sure - but that's something life demands of us anyway.
When a girl reaches puberty, it's a wonderful thing. Sure, it could lead to teenage pregnancy. One day, her new-found sexuality could lead her into a relationship with a man who abuses her. She could end up having to drag her children through the trauma of divorce ... and it all started with puberty ... the gift of sexuality.
Does that categorize puberty as something we shouldn't let get started? Does the chance that things could - and in some case will - go bad further down the road puberty set us upon, mean that we condemn it? Of course not.
We do have to keep an eye on relationships between Parks and corporations. In addition to the good that can come of it, there are risks. Occasionally there may be improprieties ... it's unrealistic to expect there wouldn't be.
Overall, though, sensibly-crafted agreements with corporations can be good thing. There is nothing in the deals with Toyota, Canon or Coca-Cola that locks us to a privatized outcome. There are risks in this general course, but they are manageable and we are alert to possible adverse outcomes. That's more than half the battle.
A year from now few if any people will know or remember that this was a gift from Toyota. Most people will view it as another government vehicle. When I was at Hagerman Fossil Beds earlier this year they had two Toyota Prius's in the parking lot of the visitor center. I have no idea if they were bought by the government or were a gift from Toyota. All I know is with the better fuel economy they are not spending as much of their budget on gas as they would have if they were using another type of vehicle.
I see no problem with the dontation. What concerns me, and as I have written about here before, is this is yet another example of the have and have-not park system that is developing. Yellowstone has the largest budget of any park (but not the most visitors). Plus, it takes in millions more from fees. There are many, many parks that are struggling with tight budgets that would love to have somone donate cars to them. But, the rich and famous get the attention. When it comes to national parks, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.
Riches in Yellowstone amount to plowing buffalo off the northern road in the winter, grooming the other roads for snowmobiles and snowcoaches (the rich rubbing the backs of the rich), and a budget to slaughter and haze bison, build overly large visitor's centers (now called education centers) - so if it were up to me, I would be glad to give the money and cars away. But, alas ...
Jim Macdonald
The Magic of Yellowstone
Yellowstone Newspaper
Jim's Eclectic World
A year from now few if any people will know or remember that this was a gift from Toyota. Most people will view it as another government vehicle
Toyota will write the whole thing off as part of the perfectly-normal advertising budget that it is.