Air Date: Week of September 22, 1995

Last week's report on the debate over possible national parks closures elicited much reponse from our listeners.

Transcript

CURWOOD: And now it's time to hear from you, our listeners.

(Music up and under)

CURWOOD: Last week we ran a story on the debate over cutting back the National Park Service. People called from all over the country, and many of you said what Mae Schatteman told us. She listens to WSUI in Iowa City.

SCHATTEMAN: Please, please don't let them close down the parks. We need these to preserve not only our economy but our way of life.

CURWOOD: A listener in Ohio had this worry.

CALLER: I listen to NPR on WKSU. I believe they should keep all the parks open that are open now. If they close down the smaller parks it would just make the more popular parks even more crowded than they are. What we need is less concrete and more greenery.

JONES-ROWE: Hello, this is Charlotte Jones-Rowe in Raleigh, North Carolina. My husband Chuck and I strongly feel that it's important to keep the parks open and to add to them. If there should have to be any cutting of the parks programs, we think it should happen in the districts of the Congressmen who are so avid to cut the park services. That might change their tone a bit.

CURWOOD: But a number of people also said Federal funding of the National Park System should be looked over closely. Thorough the Internet, Jean Spencer of Danville, Pennsylvania, wrote, "I don't think they should be exempted from review simply because they are national parks.

MORROW: This is Houston Morrow calling from Paonia, Colorado. Our station is KBNF. I am all in favor of trimming the budget. I do not like the idea of closing any parks, but reform might be appropriate. Small parks that are little visited, why can we not have senior and perhaps high school volunteers staff these parks for little or no pay, and have a small fund used for supervising such people, administered through the local park service?