A snowy and sunny day in Glacier National Park/NPS, view January 13, 2024 from the Apgar Mountain Lookout
A snowy weekend with the prospect of two or three feet of fresh snow had me house-bound to a certain extent with plenty of time to wonder what the coming year will bring to the National Park System and related topics.
For instance:
- Will President Biden, who has called for 30 percent of the nation's lands and waters to be preserved for biodiversity by 2030, create a national biodiversity strategy in a bid to slow the sixth mass extinction?
- Last March the White House's Council on Environmental Quality gave all federal agencies six months to develop or restore and protect ecological corridors, including those relied upon by wildlife during their migrations. Where do things stand?
- With Mexican wolves — well, one at least — refusing to abide by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's northern boundary in New Mexico for an experimental population of the predators, will the agency push the boundary north?
- Why did National Park Service Director Chuck Sams quickly grant the Jemez Pueblo's request that it be allowed to kill a bald or golden eagle inside Valles Caldera National Preserve, a decision that appears to conflict with National Park Service regulations that prohibit the taking of wildlife?
- Why does the National Park Service, which is supposed to protect threatened and endangered species, argue that it has no legal authority to remove feral horses from Cumberland Island National Seashore, where the Park Service's own biologists have said the horses are damaging the seashore's environment and two federally protected species?
- Will the National Park Service act on suggestions that it charge international visitors more to enter the National Park System than U.S. citizens?
- Did his role in Dante's Peak ever cross Pierce Brosnan's mind when he was cited for illegally walking in a thermal area at Yellowstone National Park?
- Has the National Park Service gone too far by allowing some lodging rates to be determined by whatever the market will bear?
- Will Sams and Shannon Estenoz, the assistant Interior Secretary for Fish, Wildlife, and Parks agree to interviews with the Traveler?
- Will some members of Congress continue to criticize the Park Service for not accomplishing more while refusing to increase the agency's budget so it could accomplish more?
- Will the Ambler Road be built through parts of Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve and the Kobuk Wild and Scenic River to access a mine site?
- How many years will pass before lodging returns to Caneel Bay in Virgin Islands National Park?
- Will storms similar to the ones that buried Utah under many feet of snow this past weekend continue through the winter and provide another banner spring runoff for the Colorado River and Lake Powell in Glen Canyon National Recreation Area?
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Comments
The biggest question is will 2024 be the year that manned kiosks at entrances are removed in favor of electronic scanngers that will check your reservation via apple, or google app to be allowed entry.
Cashless parks are already a thing. How long before digital entry is required?
How long before every hike, bike and rock climb are booked via recreation.gov for their profiting pleasure?
And Pierce obviously knows Yellowstone is about to blow. As before no one is listining out of fear of a lack of tourism. Its deja vu all over again
Overall, a good list of questions that likely will not be answered by the NPS.
Will the National Park Service act on suggestions that it charge international visitors more to enter the National Park System than U.S. citizens?
They won't but it maybe a way to start to close some budget gaps. Heck, when I snowmobile in another state I need to pay a non-resident fee to use the trails. Should apply to non-residents of the US. Let's not get into the argument that not everone has an ID........
Interestingly enough, those same National Parks & National Monuments that have gone cashless, are still hectoring me to make a cash donation inside the visitor centers, odd that!