National Park funds dangling off "Fiscal Cliff"

In the “all-things-being-connected” category... the fiscal cliff crises means our beloved national parks are facing big cuts in funding and fewer American may have less money to travel if taxes are increased—which, in turn means towns and communities will also suffer from lack of revenue generated from park visitors. 

The National Park Service is looking at an automatic 8.2 percent cut in government support—$218 million across the country. To put that figure in perspective, it’s the amount of money the agency spends at the 150 smallest national parks, among them the Northwest’s Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park, San Juan Island National Historical Park, Fort Vancouver, and Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area.

Mount Rainier has a current annual operating budget of $11.7 million, down $500,000 over the past couple of years. Small changes, like closing the road from Longmire to Paradise on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, save money by cutting back on snow removal—because there’s not enough money for the crews. 

... The advocacy group, the National Parks Conservation Association, points out that the budget for our National Park Service is one-fourteenth of one percent of the federal budget. It begs the question then as to how much will it actually help the deficit vs. how much will it hurt those of us (and our “guests” from other countries) to be denied access to our treasured, last protected wild spaces? Stay tuned...

Washington state park closed due to aggressive dogs

FORT EBEY STATE PARK, Wash. — Fort Ebey State Park on Whidbey Island is closed as rangers search for two aggressive dogs that bit a man and caused a woman to seek safety in a park bathroom, reports KIRO Seattle.

Park Manager Jon Crimmins is quoted in the news article saying he came face to face with the two dogs late Tuesday afternoon and the dogs that looked like pitbulls were incredibly aggressive.

KIRO reported that Crimmins and his partner returned Wednesday morning with an animal control officer to search for the dogs, but haven't found any sign of them.
 
The park website had this closure listed on its website Thursday afternoon: Fort Ebey State Park is closed until further notice. Aggressive, unattended dogs were discovered at the park the evening of Dec. 11. At this time, rangers and county animal control officers are working to confirm the location of the dogs and place them under control. Until this occurs, the park will remain closed.


To read the complete report from KIRO Seattle, click here.

Thanks to RVdailyReport.com for alerting us to this story.