New Math for the USFS and the NPS: Visitor Days

(Note: This is a prime example of the 'tangled web' that has been woven by
government employees desperate to justify the existence of their jobs. It's
not a pretty picture.)

November 2001

By Don Fife

donfife@earthlink.net

714-544-8406

The San Bernardino National Forest was recently caught using a highway
counter strip at Big Bear Dam in Big Bear Lake, California -- to count all
vehicles entering and leaving this community of 16,000 people.

This was used to "document" the Visitor Days for this portion of the national
forest.

However, every day many of the local folks [being counted] are commuting to
and from their jobs in the Inland Empire.

These are residents and definitely NOT visitors to the national forest.

The American Land Rights Association -- http://www.landrights.org -- revealed
that the National Park Service was doing the same thing to commuters living
in Virginia -- on the George Washington Parkway in Washington D.C.

Recently, I have been told by a reliable source that the National Park
Service staffer in charge of documenting Visitor Days to the 249,000-acre
Channel Islands National Park (a U.N. biosphere reserve off the coast of
Southern California) has been counting passengers and crew on commercial
airplanes and cruise liners that pass within eyesight of the islands.

This NPS employee allegedly even calls the cruise line and airline offices to
get the exact number of passengers and crew on board. They then become
"Visitor Day" visitors to the National Park.

This national park is very difficult to visit, and is very desperate to
justify its existence.