Paying to Play

Over its 35-year history, Earth Day -- originally established during the pre-Watergate days of the Nixon administration, and celebrated on April 22 -- has devolved from a day set aside for careful consideration of the planet to a rather free-ranging and amorphous series of public celebrations and civic activities, many sponsored by multinational corporations. At EarthDay.gov, the Bush Administration is hailing Earth Day as "a time to celebrate gains we have made and create new visions to accelerate environmental progress."

In an era where the Bush administration characterizes its environmental agenda as "common sense" environmentalism, there are a slew of front-burner issues that will likely get short shrift on Earth Day including global warming, drilling for oil in the Artic, new legislation aimed at lifting the ban on offshore oil and gas drilling in the U.S., and increasing threats to the water we drink and air we breathe.

One issue that will definitely not get much attention is the growing trend toward privatizing America's public lands. Privatization is one of the most "insidious and all-encompassing developments" that will ultimately force Americans to "pay to play," at recreation areas all across the country, says Scott Silver, the executive director of Wild Wilderness, a Central Oregon-based environmental organization.

The issue of privatization reared its head in an unlikely manner recently when in addition to the usual requirements being sought -- expertise in dealing with budgetary matters, and an ability to organize and set work priorities -- a new one was tucked into a job posting for a new director of tourism for the National Park Service. The new requirement, suggesting that the candidate be able to ''create, nurture, and expand tourism programs that promote private sector support" -- had "environmentalists worrying about creeping commercialization and added strain on already overburdened parks," the Boston Globe recently reported.

''It smacks of heavy corporate involvement," Jeff Ruch, director of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, told the Globe. "Marketing tactics could influence policy and lead to promiscuous partnering. That would allow wholesale commercialization and 'Disney-fy' our national parks." In addition, Ruch pointed out, ''With cutbacks in staff and maintenance, you have to question why they want to invest in increasing visitation."

''The goal remains to give guests a good experience in national parks," acting tourism director Edie Sean-Hammond said. ''My successor will have to look at appropriate visitation -- in some parks there are places that have reached capacity and how to deal with that."

Wild Wilderness' Scott Silver is an old-school activist who got involved with environmental issues through fighting to preserve free access to America's public lands. For more than decade, Silver has been has been monitoring and tracking the growth, lobbying expertise, and political influence of the recreation industry.

Bill Berkowitz: Tell me how you got involved in environmental activism.

Scott Silver: I gave up a career in science and moved to Central Oregon in the late 1980s. I'd always dreamed of someday living in a small community in the Pacific Northwest since wilderness travel and backcountry skiing were my passions.

Central Oregon has long attracted a great deal of tourism and recreational use though back in the 1980s, the nearby Three Sisters Wilderness offered plenty of opportunities to get close to nature. During the summer months the wilderness could get a bit crowded, but in winter, the experiences available to backcountry skiers were incomparable and solitude was all but assured.

My introduction to environmental activism began in 1990 when the local U.S. Forest Service was entertaining two proposals that would have permitted commercial yurt-to-yurt ski touring within, and adjacent to, the Three Sisters Wilderness. I was concerned that the wilderness would be filled with paying tourists and, to put it bluntly, I didn't take kindly to the idea of finding a yurt village in my own favorite ski bowl.