Portions of Skyline Drive through Shenandoah National Park were temporarily closed last fall to allow a Find Your Park commercial to be shot using Subaru vehicles/Kurt Repanshek file photo

For two days last October, Subaru of America and National Geographic teamed up to film Find Your Park commercials along Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park, a 48-hour window during the park's peak foliage season that critics are branding as corporate panhandling in the National Park System.

National Park Service officials, however, saw the filming as key to supporting the agency's centennial goal of connecting with and creating "the next generation of park visitors, supporters and advocates."

This is not the first time automotive companies have filmed in the national parks. Back in the 1950s and 1960s, in concert with the National Park Service's drive to ready the parks for the agency's 50th anniversary, Chevrolet filmed a few commercials in parks for their "See the USA in Your Chevrolet" campaign and to promote specific park units, such as Cedar Breaks National Monument.

But officials at Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, which obtained documents tracking the approval process for the Subaru commercials, feel the Park Service is bending over too far to allow corporate interests into the National Park System. As part of the deal, PEER pointed out, the Park Service waived its ban against the use of drones in parks so the producers could capture some of the images from above. They also approved the permit request in just one day, the group noted.

Top officials in the National Park Service's Washington headquarters realized the potential for negative publicity from this commercial activity, but thought the payoff was worth it.

"The permitting of filming with a drone could be potentially controversial by seeming to set a precedent in the park," the Park Service's associate director for visitor and resource protection wrote in approving the $200 permit. "We feel that the centennial partnership relationship and the focus on the Find Your Park campaign warrant special consideration."

At PEER, Executive Director Jeff Ruch said the commercial was further unnecessary exploitation of the national parks by a company. He tied the incident to Director Jon Jarvis's proposed revisions to the agency's partnership and donor regulations, which, as drafted, would allow some Park Service officials to play a larger role in soliciting donations.

“This episode illustrates how corporate donations can affect the way parks operate and for whose benefit,” said Mr. Ruch, noting that under the NPS plan every park superintendent would be charged with generating new corporate donation “partnerships” and would be evaluated for retention and promotion on their fundraising success. “This is not philanthropy; it is merchandising. These corporate tie-ins give new meaning to panhandling in the park.”

At Park Service headquarters in Washington, spokesman Jeremy Barnum said the filming did not create an inconvenience to park visitors.

"In accordance with the park’s standard operating procedures, Skyline Drive was closed at four different locations for short (less than 10 minutes) intervals to facilitate the filming over two days (a Tuesday and a Wednesday). The park received no complaints from the visiting public over those two days," he said Monday via email. "Each traffic stoppage resulted in just a few cars waiting to proceed on Skyline Drive. Most waited about five minutes or less as the stoppages occurred between scenic pullouts where most park visitors gather to see park vistas. There were 10 vehicles in line in one instance when traffic was stopped."

Mr. Barnum also took exception to the claim by PEER that the revisions to Director's Order 21 would require superintendents to solicit donations, and to be graded on how much they raise.

"To be clear, park superintendents have not, are not, and will not be authorized to solicit donations," he said. "Only the NPS Director is currently authorized to solicit donations. Revisions to our partnerships and philanthropy policy would allow for the two Deputy Directors to solicit donations as well."

Shenandoah Superintendent Jim Northup did not immediately respond Monday to questions regarding the propriety of the event.

“Closing public access to national park facilities to give corporate donors exclusive access is not part of America’s best idea,” said Mr. Ruch. “If the Park Service is granting these sorts of corporate favors even before relaxing its fundraising restrictions, Katy bar the door because the line between national parks and the soundstages of Universal Studios will become increasingly hard to find.”