THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, October 4, 1995 TAG: 9510040556
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY PAUL SOUTH, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 90 lines
For tourists, the view from the top of the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse has for years been evidence that the best things in life are free.
But the National Park Service, faced with the prospect of shrinking federal appropriations and reduced manpower, may be allowed to charge admission fees to the lighthouse and other facilities if Congressional legislation becomes law.
Those fees could keep campgrounds and other facilities under park service management. But if the proposals fail, officials said Tuesday, management of some park facilities could be shifted to private hands.
Russell Berry, superintendent of the Cape Hatteras National Seashore, said Park Service officials are considering a variety of options.
``We have had interest from people to run the campgrounds from Easter to Columbus Day,'' Berry said. ``Right now, we are able to run the campgrounds from Memorial Day to Labor Day. There's no way for us to use fees alone to run campgrounds for as long as people want them open.''
Berry said the service received a $2,800 grant from the Ocracoke Business Association to keep a NPS campground on the barrier island open until Sept. 30. Fees collected during the extended schedule reaped $40,000 for the park service.
``There are two schools of thought,'' Berry said. ``One would allow us to keep seed revenue we generate from fees to run the parks. The second would allow continuation of the congressional appropriation to the parks, and allow us to use the revenues we bring in. That would allow us to keep the parks open longer.''
About 50 national parks are part of an experimental program that allows them to keep some of the money they take in to provide future funding.
``If a park is projected to generate $100,000, and they bring in $104,000, they are able to keep that excess money,'' Berry said.
However, if the fee restructuring does not pass, privatization could be the next step. If that does take place, Berry said, it would not go into effect until 1997. Berry also emphasized that local individuals, not large corporations, would be given the first priority.
``If the fee legislation does not pass, in order to operate the campgrounds, I would consider putting out a prospectus, so that the campgrounds could operate for the length of time the public wants.''
The proposal would be subject to congressional review.
Private management is already a reality at some parks. At the Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona, Big Bend National Park in Texas, and others, public and private entities have worked jointly in running campground facilities.
``At Big Bend, three campgrounds are run by the park service, and one is run by a private concession,'' Berry said. One of Berry's stops with the service before coming to Cape Hatteras was Big Bend.
Berry said another proposal would enable the park service to charge fees to tour facilities that in the past have been free to the public. The privately run Corolla Light charges $4 per person to go to the top of the brick lighthouse. The Cape Hatteras Light tours are free.
``The legislation would not make fees mandatory,'' said Berry. ``But it would allow us to charge fees if we wanted.''
Changes in the fee structure are only part of a major overhaul of the nation's park system being considered. However, officials say there are no plans to immediately privatize any of the vast network of government-managed lands.
The National Park System Reform Act would establish an 11-member Park Service Review Commission.
The PSRC has been compared to the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission (BRAC) formed to streamline America's military installations. However, Mike McClanahan, a spokesman for 3rd District Rep. Walter B. Jones Jr., said the PSRC will not operate in the same manner as the BRAC.
``The BRAC Commission was different, because basically what it said went,'' McClanahan said. ``The Park Service Review Commission will study the park system for two years, and make recommendations to the Secretary of the Interior, who will in turn submit it to Congress. It would be left to Congress to decide what actions it would take.''
McClanahan said the PSRC is not designed to close parks, nor does it mean wholesale privatization is on the way.
``If the bill passes, it will be at least two years before anything happens,'' McClanahan said. ``Anybody who sees privatization in this bill is reading a heckuva lot into it.''
Berry is hopeful that the new fee system will pass, and that the Park Service will be able to do the job it has done since its establishment. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
DREW C. WILSON/Staff
The National Park Service campground at Oregon Inlet could become a
concession if the service isn't allowed to charge fees.
by CNB