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Comment by CobrastanJorji | Hacker News Reader

People with disabilities get free park access, 4th graders get free park access, everybody gets free park access on MLK day and Veterans Day. Maybe we should just make national park access free again? I mean, I get that it comes out of my taxes, but it feels weird to charge people to wander around in nature. That's what we should be encouraging people to do.

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There’s tons of public land that is free to access. BLM, USFWS, USFS, maybe more. But people in general don’t want that land. They want the land with paved, maintained trails, where there’s always a ranger around the bend to help you out of any situation you might get yourself into. And I don’t mind them paying for those privileges.

Those of us who don’t need them have plenty of land to use.

Rangers are federal law enforcement, not 'there to help you out of any situation you might get yourself into'. Don't talk to the police.

Broadly speaking, there are interpretative rangers who provide information and education about national parks and there are law enforcement rangers who exist to protect people, park features, and provide emergency services. If you don’t wish to talk to any rangers, go right ahead, but please don’t spread misinformation about them.

Rangers are a valuable resource to anyone venturing into the backcountry. I cannot count the amount of times I’ve been provided useful information and services by rangers. I’ll happily strike up a conversation with any ranger I meet.

Based on your statement I’d be surprised if you’ve ever interacted with a ranger. The only people I meet who dislike rangers are the types who feel entitled to do whatever they please in the wilderness and refuse to carry a bear can when hiking through Yosemite.

Take the mindless anti government sentiment elsewhere.

Right? It's inherently public land... why should one have to pay in order to access nature? When you put it in words, it truly sounds like late-stage capitalism manifest.

The more popular national parks don’t actually have the capacity to meet the demand…theyre huge but the relatively easily human accessible areas are relatively small. Building these out to meet capacity would harm the wildlife goals.

https://theconversation.com/us-national-parks-are-crowded-an...

http://www.doi.gov/ocl/overcrowding-parks

https://amp.theguardian.com/environment/2021/sep/10/overcrow...

Managing to capacity is not actually a reason for imposing the fees. And even if it was, the fees are not nearly high enough to have that effect.

Capacity challenges are being handled instead by denser transportation (e.g. Zion shuttle), by lotteries (e.g. Grand Canyon float trips), and by limited timed reservations (e.g. Rocky Mountain).

People devalue things that are free. Ever been to the Google cafeteria?

>Ever been to the Google cafeteria

nope

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