Weekend of mischief in DV

[Beardilocks]

The NPS is hilariously understaffed, underfunded, over-legislated, and overworked. DEVA has a staff of a couple dozen people to manage over 1 million people a year and an area roughly the size of Connecticut. They deserve some slack, especially when all of their major attractions have been impacted in the last few years. They're just people working for a living.

I think it was 1.7 million last year. And Absolutely they are.  And I give the front desk folks a lot of slack.  It’s not their fault they see so little training.  Especially with the majority of staff rotating every couple of years.  But I’ve struggled to contact anyone in a bunch of departments this year (including to volunteer my time in the park) and can’t even get an email back. And I’ve also gotten some downright rudeness from a couple of folks.  Today we tried to alert NPS to an illegal gun range in Wilderness area 17 and no one wanted to take a report.  So what can you do?  Most of the individuals try very hard in a difficult situation and have my respect.  But the system is broken. 

But let’s not derail the thread.  

I’m really glad you have the resources of the bat group.  They have many more dedicated hours than we do as individuals to get the parks attention.  I hope they get protection!