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Topic: National Park Visits Surge, and One Firm Benefits (Read 113 times) previous topic - next topic
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Re: National Park Visits Surge, and One Firm Benefits
Reply #1 –
A Booz- Allen spokesperson said
Quote
He also pointed to upgrades the company made to the site and called the per-transaction model a “much more effective and productive” way of doing business than by-the-hour payment models.

There are many ways you can define and characterize "Productive",  income being one of them.

I was one of the lucky 'winners' of the Yosemite lottery for reserving a campsite at Yosemite.  Only for Upper Pines.  Upper Pines projected to  be closed due to high runoff in spring and early summer - the time you could get a jump on the reservation line.
Not exactly Florida swampland,  the water running thru the campground is clear and cold.

How much of the lottery funds went to the Park?

Joel & Terry Wiley
dog Zeke
2013  31 IB   Orwan   / 2011 CRV Tow'd LWEROVE
 
Re: National Park Visits Surge, and One Firm Benefits
Reply #2 –
I read the WSJ article too. My take on this issue is that Recreation.gov is an improvement over its predecessor, and certainly was necessary to handle the increased camping reservation volume of the past few years.  However, I believe that the Department of the Interior could do more to drive creative solutions to the problems that public lands campground managers face.

Like Joel, I wonder whether allocating a lower portion of the transaction fee to Booze Allen, the consultancy - application developer/host and a higher portion of the fee to the parks, earmarked for CG maintenance, would be worth considering.   I also wonder whether sending the project out to bid, as a means of injecting new ideas/solutions into the tool - better site photographs, campsite availability alert features such as those provided by Wanderinglabs.com, etc….

In essence, our DOI bureaucrats seem to have granted a monopoly to the developer and the results are correspondingly mediocre.

I’ve attached a PDF copy of the article in case some aren’t able to surmount the paywall invoked by the link Don shared.

W
Warren
2019 MB “Dream Catcher”
Jeep Wrangler JL