A Look Back At Traveler's Views In 2013

Published Date

December 31, 2013

At National Parks Traveler, we don't profess to have all the answers to issues and controversies swirling about the National Park System. But there were a handful of times in 2013 when we felt it necessary to raise concerns about what was transpiring in the parks.

Traveler's View: Proposed Monument Around Canyonlands National Park Deserves Serious Consideration

A proposal to create a 1.4-million-acre national monument wrapping Canyonlands National Park in Utah should not be dismissed out of hand, but receive serious consideration from the Obama administration. And it should receive equally serious consideration from Utah officials who promote the state's recreational wonders in one breath and demand a turnover of federal lands in the next.

Read the full editorial here.

Traveler's View: National Park Service Shouldn't Contribute To Technological Disconnect With Nature

While the National Park Service is moving ahead to test expanded cellphone and Wi-Fi service in some units of the National Park System, it should consider that testing carefully and measure it against the relative solitude and release from the seemingly nonstop attention wireless technology can demand that park visits provide.

Read the full editorial here.

Traveler's View: Congress, National Park Service Need To Restructure Fees For Centennial Celebration

"Mountaineers are always free" is West Virginia's state motto, but that sentiment is getting harder and harder to find in the National Park System, where an imbalance in fee structures charges you for sleeping on the bare ground but not for burning gas as you negotiate the 11-mile loop of Cades Cove

Read the full editorial here.

Traveler's View: The Arrogance Of Congress

The arrogance of Congress is withering and shameful.

Read the full editorial here.

Traveler's View: There's No Lack Of GOP Chutzpa In The House When It Comes To National Parks

Despite the estimated loss of $76 million a day, the furlough of more than 20,000 federal and non-profit employees, and the ruination of countless vacations, 94 Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives want to know how many rangers it takes to keep the World War II Memorial on the National Mall closed.

Read the full editorial here.

Traveler's View: The National Park Service Has An Image Problem It Needs To Address

The National Park Service has a serious image problem, part of it earned, and part of it manufactured, that it needs to address.

Read the full editorial here.

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Traveler's View

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