National Park Budget Cuts?

CNN reporter Jennifer Liberto claims in her article that with National Park Budget Cuts, that tourists will not have the same glorious trips to parks nationwide this summer. She paints a somewhat convincing doom and gloom picture of trash cans over flowing, bathrooms not functioning, and camp sites rendered unavailable because of lack of funding. No more magic filled adventures with a knowledgeable tour guide that has dedicated their lives to the natural beauty of our nation. Lots longer lines at the bathrooms.

The author then informs her audience of those who grew up loving those parks in their glory days, that the parks face huge financial issues. The President has chosen for 2013 to shaved off "$85 billion from the federal budget. It includes $183 million from the National Parks Service, which runs 401 national parks, memorials, lakeshores, parkways and historic sites." This budget cut destroys thousands of jobs by either furloughing them or simply eliminating them, and the author points out that even in some of the most popular parks like Yellowstone can't even afford to plow the snow off of their roads so that visitors can enter the park.

The author is sure to end by including a comment from retired park service superintendent Joan Anzelmo, saying that it was generous that private parties made donations to make it possible for the roads to be plowed, "it's not sustainable... What's going to happen next year? If these cuts continue over the long term, we're in real trouble."

Now, personally, I think that the basic framework of this article had the potential of really packing a punch that the author didn't really utilize. When spouting out the facts of just how many jobs were cut where, real numbers would have been more impactful than rounded out numbers. Rather than saying visitors have to wait longer for bathroom use, she could have come up with a more personable story like "No more taking a pit stop every time little Timmy needs to use the potty, he's gotta hike another mile to find one with a bathroom with a line." Just something in this article needs to have a little more umph in my opinion rather than the vague generalizations she used.