Selling The National Parks

Not all of the land for the National Parks has been purchased.

Zion National Park, Utah - Hank and Mariangela Landau purchased a slice of heaven: 20 acres surrounded by Zion National Park and its red-rock hoodoos and towering sandstone walls.

The 2005 sale frustrated park officials, who had wanted to buy the land for years but couldn't come up with the money. The inablility of park officials to make the purchase guaranteed that private citizens will control the land for the foreseeable future.

Within less than a decade, national park officials have seen the federal budget for land acquisition slashed by 75 percent, making it increasingly difficult for administrators to purchase roughly 1.8 million acres of privately owned land inside national parks. The 2008 budget offers $35 million – a slight uptick, but far less than the nearly $140 million spent in 1999.

It seems the republicans have a lower priority for the parks than the democrats. Even with use levels going up it is hard to get the government to fund the national parks.