[at-l] Smoky back country fees

[Pat]

I think they see a lot of money to be made from hikers. Consider these 
stats : Copied from the PCTA list

Appalachian Mountain Club (New England and mid-Atlantic states, based in 
Boston), Executive director/president salary, $278,000; salary's 
percentage of expenses, 1.52 percent; organization's revenue, $20.8 million.
American Hiking Society, $110,000; 9.35 %; $1.1 million;
Appalachian Trail Conservancy, $114,000; 2.41 %; $4.9 million;
Green Mountain Club (Vermont), $80,000; 5.07 %; $1.7 million;
PCTA, $99,000; 5.82 %; $1.7 million.

There's a lot of money to be made here. The fact is these fees will put 
thruhiking out of reach for many young, just out of school or newly 
retired hikers. If the Smokey's charge a fee many others will follow.

Pat
>
>  Here's a NP Traveler article about the "elephant in the room" issue
>  of fees for backcountry use in the Smokies. For those who don't know:
>  the creation of GSMNP is unique among the national parks, a large
>  amount of the purchase price for the land was generated by numerous
>  public donations, including pennies from schoolchildren, with the
>  supplemental $5 M amount coming from John D. Rockefeller in memory of
>  his wife, Laura Spellman Rockefeller. As compensation to TN and NC it
>  was promised that there would never be an entrance fee for the
>  public. That promise may be coming to an end.
>
>
>
> 
http://www.nationalparkstraveler.com/2012/02/great-smoky-mountains-national-park-looking-backcountry-user-fee-improve-services-protect-resources9454
>
>
>
>
>  The article is long and detailed and includes a couple of comments
>  regarding thru-hikers in the discussion and comments:
>
>  "Another issue is how to deal with Appalachian Trail thru-hikers, a
>  gypsy-like group of backpackers accustomed to traveling at their own
>  pace, with a willingness to speed up, slow down, or layover when the
>  desire and need strikes. How they would reserve campsites for
>  specific dates could be problematic, the superintendent
>  acknowledged."
>
>
>
>  And
>
>
>
>  "Well, there is that rush of people (thru-hikers) when they start out
>  in Georgia and they start hitting us, usually in April, and how do we
>  manage those numbers and how do we identify them?" said the
>  superintendent.
>
>
>
>

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