Knoxville, Tenn. - More than 90 percent of the participants in a recent online poll agreed that America’s national parks are a good investment. The poll was posted on the website of the Knoxville News-Sentinel.
"National parks should be a national priority," said Ann Froschauer, program coordinator with the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) in Knoxville. "The Smokies provide an obvious economic benefit to the surrounding communities. An investment in our national parks is an investment in East Tennessee."
A small sampling of readers of the News-Sentinel participated in a poll posted on the newspaper’s website in response to the newspaper’s Jan. 3 editorial, "National parks provide return on investment." When asked if they agree with the editorial, 94.3% said yes; 3.8 % said no, and 1.9% said they were not sure.
"Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg wouldn’t have made it to where they are without the economy the park has generated," one respondent wrote.
The newspaper editorial was sparked by news coverage of new economic analysis released by NPCA. This analysis by independent economists Hardner & Gullison Associates, LLC, shows that the U.S. National Park System generates at least four dollars for state and local economies in return for every one tax dollar that the Federal Government invests in the parks’ budgets.
To help maintain this good investment, NPCA is advocating that Congress and the administration provide significant new funding to address the parks’ critical annual needs in the fiscal year 2008 budget.
"The GSMNP is renowned for its invaluable natural and cultural resources. It gets my vote for more staff and funding," poll participant B. Jones wrote.
# # #
