On a drive last weekend through New England's scenic White Mountains we stopped at a rest area at a beautiful waterfall on the headwaters of the Saco River. I've been visiting the White Mountain National Forest since 1962, and know quite a few strikingly eye-catching places that are easily accessible, and this was one of them.
Unfortunately, just about every place we parked required that we pay a user's fee, even if we stopped for just a few minutes. Since 1997, the White Mountain National Forest has collected these so-called recreation
fees. Hikers must pay up before hitting the trails. Passes are demanded at trailhead parking lots and day use facilities.
Yes, the fees are ostensibly used to maintain facilities, and are lawfully charged under provisions of the
Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act. According to the White Mountain National Forest folks, almost all of the proceeds are used for area improvements. That is well and good, but some people resent paying to visit a public park. Fees are especially repressive for poor people or people on fixed incomes. I've heard this voiced by hikers, and I've seen some of the remote self-serve pay stations pilfered and vandalized.
It gets worse. There's a movement in the United States to privatize major national places, not just pristine forests in the White Mountains. In an
article written by Jerry Taylor and Peter Van Doren that appeared in the
Houston Chronicle newspaper, and has been re-printed by the Cato Institute, the authors ask, "Why should those who oppose development be able to impose their preferences regarding land use on everyone else?"
Privatization adherents like Taylor and Van Doren (both are senior fellows at the reactionary Cato Institute) contend that corporations can manage places like public parks much better than the public can. So, should we hand these places over and let corporations collect whatever fees are required to keep them profitable?
"If there's more money to be made by turning the Grand Canyon over to the Walt Disney Company," argue Taylor and Van Doren, "it simply means that the public demand for Disney's services at the Grand Canyon is great. Corporations are simply the economic agents of consumers (us)."
Taylor and Van Doren say that if the preferences of the rich were to dominate the market, the environment would benefit because the wealthy people in America care a lot more about the environment than poorer people. They cite the example of Roxanne Quimby, the well-to-do owner of Burt's Bees cosmetics. Taylor and Van Doren point to Quimby's purchase of vast tracts of land from timber companies in Maine in order to preserve wilderness.
Taylor and Van Doren say people object to privatization because they believe no price tag can, or should, be attached to national sacred natural treasures. They argue that that value judgment is subjective; land is worth only what people will pay for it.
Taylor and Van Doren don't talk about how Seattle-based Plum Creek Corporation, the country's largest developer, is buying vast areas of Maine's wilderness so it can build thousands of homes and resorts. Over the past three years, Plum Creek has submitted proposals for the largest real estate development in Maine history.
In addition to luxury and vacation villas, Plum Creek is planning for lodges, mines, wind turbines, and cellphone towers, all in areas that are presently forest management zones. Deep-pocketed Plum Creek obliquely refers to its development areas as "balance easement" zones. Wild lynx, bear, loons, moose and free flowing crystal clear streams be damned. These zones are “balanced.”
Do you think we can equate natural places, wildlife refuges, scenic areas, and parks with a dollar value? If so, don't stop there. Go ahead and privatize the military, law enforcement, the criminal justice system, and public water sources. Corporations are much more efficient than the public sector, aren’t they? Corporations don't get bogged down with elections, and they can sell us back what's already ours, and make a buck at it, too. It's called the American Way, isn't it?
I don't know about you, but I don't want a private corporation such as the Disney Company taking over the Grand Canyon, adding it to Dizzy World. Privatizing America's natural, cultural and economic public domain is wrong. If we permit it, we let the power of money do whatever it wants, wherever it wants, and whenever it wants. If you need examples of privatization run amok, look no further than Blackwater, Halliburton, and Enron.
What are your thoughts? Write me at
amm at en-genius dot net, or post your comments on our blog.
