I guess I don't understand the cost of just keeping public lands open for people to use. I do not understand why that costs anything. Stop mowing and lock the bathrooms, but why build a berm and label it closed, in my mind the costs to keep it open are then eliminated.
Life used to be simple. Now it has gotten complicated. Not that long ago, there were completely free camping spots with few restrictions and it was well, as it was intended a opening in the woods where you camped. You took your own wood...or searched for some...which kept the downed wood cleaned up for miles, and you took your own trash, and if you had a luxury rig, you pooped in your own toilet or if you didn't you dug a pit and did your thing there. Later on, they decided to put smelly toilets in that needed maintaining....along came water, cement to rest your camper on, electric, and a guy who strolled around and made you turn down your radios.
This whole thing has mushroomed into a high cost expense.
So why can't they just close the toilets and go back to those days?
Oh, that is not possible. People will complain...they say, and folks WANT all those nice things so they can feel like they are back home again.
In reality, it is about creating jobs, and then loosing them when they get into a budget crunch. You DON"T get rid of personel, cause you might need them, and if your groupl numbers are cut there is always the possibility that your whole department might get the axe.
So managers don't go there.
Meanwhile we spend millions on Pure Michigan ads which are designed to get folks in the north and spending money. Only when they get there they have few choices and places that used to be there and nice are shut down.
If you want to think out of the box on this, the State should do like they do with littery patrol on the highways. Let a group or merchant sponsor the park and take care of it and keep it clean and once or twice a year pump the stupid tanks.
If anyone should be upset about loosing those rural parks it should be the local merchants who continue to take a hit as each park closes because those folks are gone...and that is just one more spike in the coffin for those who are trying to stay afloat in a tough tourist market.
