Critics fear Park Service headed down wrong path

CADES COVE, Tenn. -- The job posting for a new director of tourism for the National Park Service cites the usual requirements: expertise with budgets, ability to set priorities. But a new skill -- the ability to ''create, nurture, and expand tourism programs that promote private sector support" -- has environmentalists worrying about creeping commercialization and added strain on already overburdened parks.

''It smacks of heavy corporate involvement," said Jeff Ruck, director of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, outlining the first of several concerns with the position. ''Marketing tactics could influence policy and lead to promiscuous partnering. That would allow wholesale commercialization and 'Disney-fy' our national parks."

Then there's the burden of more people on national parks that are already facing staffing shortages and billions of dollars in maintenance cuts. ''With cutbacks in staff and maintenance, you have to question why they want to invest in increasing visitation," he said.

The National Park Service, dismissing concerns about undue corporate influence, said critics are reading too much into the job description.

''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."

A comprehensive plan and a good-working relationship with tour providers will go a long way in easing congestion at overcrowded parks and help gain exposure for less-used parks, she said.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park is a prime example. The country's most visited national park, with some 9 million visitors annually, it often takes four hours to drive the 11-mile loop road that circles the valley at the height of summer. Visitors are drawn to Cades Cove, a historic area with restored log cabins and populated with whitetail deer and an occasional black bear.

The job of the tourism director is to ensure that national parks are sustained into the future, Sean-Hammond said, with one of the biggest challenges being how to deal with crowding.

''The biggest influence right now in the travel and recreation industry is eco-tourism," said David Barna, chief spokesman for the National Park Service. ''I think that's what we can expect [from the new director of tourism] when it comes to promoting and expanding tourism programs."