Park Service trying to boost minority visitors

I’ve visited all but two National Parks west of the Mississippi, outside of Hawaii and Alaska, and I can personally attest that lack of minority visitors is noticeable.

“We do not reflect the changing face of America,” said David Barna, a park service spokesman in Washington. “The national parks are still a middle-class Caucasian visit, primarily.”

Causes? African-Americans are the most urbanized ethnic group, that’s one problem. Minorities may be less interested in the history presented at historical national parks.

But, as Joquetta Johnson found out, that history is minority-relevant at many National Park Service sites, whether national parks, national monuments, national historic sites or whatever.

Price? The most expensive parks are $20 a carload. That’s the same as three people going to a non-rush hour movie. An annual Parks Pass, at $50, is some of the best money spending in the world.

Remoteness? No, that doesn’t fly, with some exceptions noted below. The AP story focuses on Harper’s Ferry, just a few hours from Washington and Baltimore. Gettysburg is less than two hours from Baltimore and Philadelphia.

And, since the days of NPS Director George Hartzog, the Park Service has focused on developing urban National Park sites like Golden Gate in San Francisco. Hartzog also expanded minority hiring and promotion within NPS.

It does seem to go back to relevance, or perceived relevance or lack thereof:

Surveys have found Hispanics and blacks are far less likely to visit the parks and far more likely to describe them as uncomfortable places. …

While there are sites that reflect the stories of black and Native Americans, the Park Service has done what Barna calls “an appalling job” of celebrating Hispanic Americans. Nor does it offer much to Asian Americans.

There is Manzanar, a Japanese internment camp in California. There is Utah’s Golden Spike, a symbol of Chinese laborers, many of whom died building the nation's railroads. Neither is much to celebrate.

Manzanar “celebrates” a less-than-stellar point in American history. Golden Spike has very little that is Chinese-specific.

As for Hispanics, Coronado National Memorial in isolated southeastern Arizona, and Cabrillo National Monument in San Diego, are about it. (Oops; a Texas friend reminds me of Chamizal in El Paso. And, yes, there are the San Antonio missions, but they're a bit of weak tea.)

And, there’s an economic back issue to this.

NPS already has a huge maintenance backlog, to the tune of several billion dollars. As minorities in our country grow, will they balk at funding that?

I do like the idea of summer internships and summer jobs for high school students. Perhaps a closer partnership with The Student Conservation Association, a small-scale modern equivalent to the Depression-era CCC, could help. (SCA is well worth a few charity dollars, too.)

As for minority-specific parks, can a West Coast equivalent of Ellis Island be established? That would certainly touch on Asian issues. Can Mount Rushmore, or Badlands, get a piggybacking about Chinese among the Black Hills gold miners?

On the Hispanic side, DeSoto and Balboa national monuments or national memorials in Florida are a no-brainer.