Modernization sought for NPS campgrounds

Committee looks at ways to privatize management

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. — Food trucks. Wi-Fi. Hot showers.

Those campground upgrades could be coming to a national park near you.

The Interior Department is reviewing recommendations to modernize campgrounds at national parks. The recommendations posted online this past week come from an advisory committee created under former Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke that has been looking at ways for private businesses to operate on public lands.

The vice chairman of the Outdoor Recreation Advisory Committee, Derrick Crandall, said many campgrounds don’t meet visitors’ expectations. Allowing the private sector to run them would free up park staff for interpretation, safety needs or other visitor services, he said.

Redesigning some campgrounds and adding running water, tent and cabin rentals, food trucks, extended family sites and Wi-Fi at select parks also could boost revenue and encourage more people to stay overnight, the committee said.

“We’re basically suggesting that would be a way to improve overall camping experiences,” Crandall said. “Are we talking about pricing people out of national parks through this? Not at all.”

The Interior Department isn’t obligated to enact the recommendations but has said it doesn’t have the money to modernize the more than 1,420 campgrounds in its system, nor does every campground need upgrades.

“Once the report is reviewed, we’ll respond accordingly,” department spokesman Nicholas Goodwin said.

Environmentalists say the proposal would price out some visitors and benefit special interest groups. The committee largely is made up of representatives from the tourism, manufacturing, hospitality and recreation industries.

More than one-third of the country’s 419 national park units have campgrounds that range from primitive, backcountry sites with no amenities to campgrounds that are easy to reach by road. About 6 percent are operated by concessionaires, according to the committee.

Noah Berger The Associated Press file River Martinez, 10, breaks camp at the Upper Pines Campground in Yosemite National Park, Calif., in 2018. The Interior Department is considering recommendations to modernize campgrounds within the National Park Service.