During peak summer months, Bryce Canyon has four cars in the park for every parking space. Equally serious is the increasing number of visitors who book commercial air tours over the parks. Overflight operations at Bryce Canyon alone have more than doubled since 1991. The flights, especially those by helicopters, mar the view and drown out Bryce Canyon s natural quiet, Fagergren says. We should be able to regulate those flights.
Most people come here for the solitude and natural sounds.
Too many planes and cars symbolize the mounting problems facing the nation s 376 national parks, battlefields, seashores, recreation areas, parkways and other National Park Service units. Years of inadequate funding and misplaced priorities have left many parks with ill-functioning sewage and water systems, historic buildings whose roofs leak and walls are crumbling, and archaeological sites, historical artifacts and wildlife that have not been documented, cataloged or monitored. Some parks have been forced to curtail programs for visitors, cut the number of rangers and other staff, and shorten hours. The number of seasonal rangers at Badlands National Park in South Dakota has dropped from 13 to four. Fort Donelson National Battlefield in Tennessee has eliminated its daily history program.