National parks need to attract young, old, minorities

SNOWBIRD, Utah -- Ambitious plans for the 100th birthday of the nation's national parks will include more attention to a wider swath of citizens, especially youngsters, people over 65 and racial minorities.

Taking a look at demographic studies, the Park Service has decided its centennial in 2016 will be a way to draw in new visitors and develop a sense of citizen stewardship, said National Park Service Director Mary Bomar.

Speaking this week to a convention of more than 500 park superintendents, deputy superintendents and a new generation of young people the agency is grooming for leadership, Bomar said park attendance is on the wane.

"We cannot provide for enjoyment if we do not engage and encourage all Americans to enjoy their parks," Bomar said.

A demographic study presented by Emilyn Sheffield, head of the Recreation Administration and Parks Management department at California State University, Chico, showed that 55 percent of the last 100 million people added to the U.S. Census were born in another country or have parents who were.

Add that to the fact that 330 Americans are reaching 60 years of age every hour and thereby entering their prime traveling years, Sheffield said, and the signposts are clear.

But now, the typical park visitor is white, well educated, affluent, 20 to 50 years old and traveling in a small group of one to four people. While more than 275 million people visited the system's 391 parks last year, that was a decline from a peak in the mid 1990s.

Avoiding the parks are young people, those over 65, racial minorities, people with limited English and those with lower incomes. While comments gathered in surveys show these groups don't believe the Park Service itself isn't welcoming, they do perceive bias among other park visitors.

"People are not willing to subject their children to these forces," she said.

Yet surveys show only 11 percent of respondents say they are "not interested" in national parks.

That's because Americans of all stripes still value the nation's founding egalitarian ideals, Sheffield said. Now, the park service needs to harness that idealism with new programs to get young people and their families to the parks to embrace their stewardship role.

Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne told the Park Service employees he is urging Congress to pass a bill that could add $2 billion for new park programs.

But retired park superintendents said money won't solve institutional problems.

Bill Wade and Phil Bureck, leaders of the Coalition of National Park Service Retirees, said they favor creating a commission or some other public involvement mechanism to re-evaluate Park Service governance.

(E-mail Patty Henetz at phenetz(at)sltrib.com)

(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)