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Shenandoah National Park Reports Too Many Visitors, Not Enough Cash

National Park Service via flickr.com

The new superintendent of Shenandoah National Park spoke to supporters Thursday night – warning that attendance is way up, and it might be necessary to require reservations for visitors. 

Patrick Kenney, who took over at Shenandoah three weeks ago, says the park is setting records for attendance during the pandemic, and there’s limited funding for day-to-day operations.

“Operational budgets have been relatively flat since 2011," he explains. "We see erosion in our staffing levels.  We can fund projects, but we can’t fund the baseline to keep restrooms clean and visitor centers staffed.”

He adds that funding has been earmarked for maintenance at many of the nation’s parks.

“Six billion – yes B – billion dollars over the next five years coming off of revenues from oil and gas development in the country  going into the maintenance backlog.”

And Shenandoah is one of the first in line for that money because attendance here is so high.  Kenney said he’ll monitor visitor levels and may have to consider requiring reservations – a policy implemented this summer at Rocky Mountain National Park.

“There haven’t been great discussions yet at Shenandoah about timed entry, but it’s something that we have to definitely look at in the future.”

Kenney stressed safety in the parks is a priority, and he was pleased to see visitors wearing masks at a much higher level than he had seen at his previous home – Yellowstone – and at other national parks out west.  

Sandy Hausman is Radio IQ's Charlottesville Bureau Chief
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