Monday, July 6, 2009

Yellowstone Nat'l Park Soapbox

This is my soapbox of the day, "Nat'l Park fees for bicycle tourist" here is the crux of my argument:
-------------------------1 Mondo RV'er------ 6 Bicycle Tourists
_________________________________________________
Number in group: ---------------6 (2 adults, 4 kids) ----------6
Days in park ----------------------4---------------------------- 4
Gallons of gas used* ------------80 ( @ 1o mpg)---------------0
Pound of charcoal burned ------6 -----------------------------0
Noise pollution----------------- Lots------------------------None
Contibution to traffic-------Significant--------------Inconsequential
Animals killed-------------------1-4------------------------None
Campsite footprint------------2,500 sq ft-------------------625 sq ft
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Amount paid to enter park-----$25-------------------------$75

* Assume an average of 800 miles of travel to and from park.

So there you have it, the same amount of people, who damage to the environment way more would actually pay 1/3 of what a group of 6 bicycle tourist would pay. Just not right. What the park should do is to encourage people to bicycle to them by admiting them for free and in Yellowstone's case, have a wide shoulder for them to ride on. I mean how great would the Nat'l Park be if a number of people took to their bicycles instead of their RV's. It's time for me to write Salazar I think.

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