NPS Campground design call for comments

[agesilaus]

NPS is about to adopt a new campground design document. They are asking for comments by campers. It is 150 pages long but is written in plain english for the most part and you can skip a lot of sections that do not apply to your camping style. I went thru it in maybe 30 minutes. The one issue I noted was that they show truck length as 10 feet in one place and that they inconsistently show desired campsite depth as 45 ft in one place but a better 75 ft in another. And they have parking lot depth as 20 ft which is a bit short for my 23 ft truck. But basically it looks reasonable.

The comment period ends DECEMBER FOURTH so don't delay. This is your chance to comment tho so take a look: Park Planning

[Ray,IN]

I missed the link to the comment website, please direct me..

[agesilaus]

Click on the last two words in my original post.

[Ray,IN]

OK, I went directly to the pdf and skipped over the comment block.. The comment asks for page # paragraph, etc. That is very unwieldy, have to return when I have much more time.

 

Edited October 19, 2020 by Ray,IN

[Vladimir]

9 hours ago, agesilaus said:

NPS is about to adopt a new campground design document. They are asking for comments by campers. It is 150 pages long but is written in plain english for the most part and you can skip a lot of sections that do not apply to your camping style. I went thru it in maybe 30 minutes. The one issue I noted was that they show truck length as 10 feet in one place and that they inconsistently show desired campsite depth as 45 ft in one place but a better 75 ft in another. And they have parking lot depth as 20 ft which is a bit short for my 23 ft truck. But basically it looks reasonable.

The comment period ends DECEMBER FOURTH so don't delay. This is your chance to comment tho so take a look: Park Planning

Thanks for posting.......people really need to comment if they want to camp in the National Parks.

[agesilaus]

OK here is a video blog entry that goes into detail on this new doc along with some interesting history: RV Miles

[2gypsies]

I really wouldn't put much faith in the campgrounds being updated any time soon.  They just don't have the money.  The money they get from the General Fund doesn't even cover all the repairs needed.  Having volunteered in the parks and listening to the rangers there is a severe money shortage.  The only way something like this will be done is to privatize the parks.  Camp costs would go way up.

[agesilaus]

Didn't they get a new pot of money with this bill that just passed? What they need to do is what Florida has been doing for ten years or so, modernize a few parks at a time. FL has been grinding away at it and I think most cg are now upgraded to FHU as well as other improvements in pads and such.

I have the impression from years of contact with these people that a lot of park managers are not enthused about modernization. Edward Abbey has thoroughly infected them.

Edited October 21, 2020 by agesilaus

[TreyandSusan]

Great America Outdoors Act

[palmeris]

1.9 billion a year max for fy21 -25  that must be used for deferred maintenance at 5 different departments nps, forest service ,blm,  fish and wildlife. 

That's some serious potential improvements and updates that could be coming in the next 5 to 10 years 

 

[2gypsies]

There is over 12 BILLION in deferred maintenance just in the national parks alone!

There are 421 national parks in need.  

https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/articles/2019/04/09/cost-of-unaddressed-national-park-repairs-grows-to-nearly-12-billion

The water supply for Grand Canyon Nat'l Park has been patched for many years.  It will cost at least 100 MILLION to fix it by 2025.

Edited October 22, 2020 by 2gypsies

[hemsteadc]

I thought it was about new campground design.