Lazy Daze Owners' Group

Privatizing Public Lands

September 30, 2017, 09:42:02 am

FYI only:

RV industry lobbies to privatize services on public lands — High Country News

Re: Privatizing Public Lands

Reply #2 – September 30, 2017, 11:30:52 am

This is another good example of "The Golden Rule".

He who has the gold, makes the rules.

HD

Re: Privatizing Public Lands

Reply #4 – September 30, 2017, 12:24:02 pm

The article Refers to Xanterra, a very privately owned concessionaire, but doesn’t relate that they are virtually the only one. Not a very democratic system, but one that suits the contractor.

Some other things to consider include:

The author makes it sound like the concessions are the profitable side to the park. I think the fees they pay may make the those aspects more profitable for the Park Service

It is also implied that rangers run the campgrounds, but that hasn’t been the case for years in the “front country”

Some other writers postulate that Xanterra will make significant capital investments in camps as part of their long term concession strategy. It would be nice to have electricity installed so they could ban generators!

I think almost every national forest CG i have used in the last couple of years is already run by concessionaires, and the cost, while increasing is still not outrageous. The services may be declining though. Or they may be getting better.

Concessionaire run CGs are sometimes worse, sometimes better than pure government run ones, at least with the concessionaire model I feel like I may have an “ear” to listen to any complaints, namely the Park Service.

Camping pressure has increased dramatically since the ‘09 crash, bringing additional problems to CGs, price increases are bound to follow to capitalize on demand and hopefully mitigate use driven cost, and the Park Service will be happy to increase prices and reduce discount access as much as the traffic will bear, they, after all decide the rates, not the concessionaire, I think.

I wonder whether the camp host role will be strengthened or weakened?

Re: Privatizing Public Lands

Reply #6 – September 30, 2017, 04:10:45 pm

This past summer, I stayed basically at three campgrounds in the Teton area.  Two were in National Forests.  One was in the National Park, Gros Ventre campground.  All three were managed by private entities.  I am not sure about management of Gros Ventre.  It might have been Xanterra but I am not sure.  I am sure about the other two.  Neither were managed by Xanterra.

In Gros Ventre, there were bathrooms with hot showers and running water, there were potable water faucets, and there was a dump station.  The fee was $30 per night for a dry camping spot.  The other two had vault toilets and several potable water faucets.  The fee was $15 per night at one and $12 per night at the other.  With my gimp or geezer pass, those rates were half - $15 at Gros Ventre and $6 or $7 at the others.

To the best of my knowledge, this has been the case for at least the past 4 years.  The management has stayed constant at all three campgrounds.  I note that there has been a fee increase this year at Gros Ventre, but the management has not changed.

Ken F in NM

Re: Privatizing Public Lands

Reply #8 – September 30, 2017, 04:24:54 pm

Concessioners in national parks:

NPS Commercial Services