S.C. leaders should ensure that everyone has access to state parks

e-mail this story discuss this issue in our forums More details Gerard Kyle is an assistant professor in the Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management at Clemson University. He received his doctorate from Pennsylvania State University and has been studying issues related to fees for public land recreation for almost a decade. Readers may write to him at gerard@clemson.edu.

Unfortunately, Prosser's comments reflected a complete lack of understanding of the role of our state's parks beyond revenue generation. Prosser's vision for our state parks suggests that they ought to be run much like a commercial enterprise and that visitors ought to be considered "customers" and "clients" who should have to pay an arbitrary fee to enjoy the benefits offered by these settings.

Such thinking raises a number of important and alarming questions concerning the role of state parks and the distribution of benefits provided by them.

Before addressing these questions, let me first briefly discuss the developments that have led many to believe Prosser's vision is appropriate for the management of South Carolina's state parks.

We live in a time when tax support for public parks and recreation is on the wane. Anti-government sentiment, increasing resistance to taxes, a highly skewed distribution of wealth among the citizenry, and a general withdrawal from public life have all contributed to an atmosphere of distrust, an atmosphere favoring the private sector and laissez-faire capitalism over the public sector and government-sponsored activities. Consequently, federal, state and local agencies charged with administering public lands have resorted to the private-sector practice of fees and charges to cover costs.

In so doing, public land management agencies now treat what were once considered public goods as merit goods and, increasingly, as private goods, suggesting a trend toward the privatization of the public estate. What then, are the implications for South Carolinians and public recreation areas within South Carolina?

My own work and that of several colleagues within the Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management at Clemson University has shown that public lands offer South Carolinians a broad variety of benefits — much more than can be quantified in terms of the revenue they may produce. They provide opportunities to exercise the contemplative faculty, to reflect on our cultural and natural heritage, to celebrate what is extraordinary about living in South Carolina. They provide opportunities for shared experiences that strengthen families. They help develop the social capital and strong citizenship so vital to the health and well-being of a participatory democracy.

Above all else, like the public schools, state parks are an educational resource to which no one should be denied access. From the beginning, our state parks were a source of pride and identity, places all South Carolinians have a stake in. To diminish that feeling through fees and charges, to refer the parks' rightful owners as "customers," to exclude low-income groups, to insist that visitors from other states and nations pay to see what makes our state unique, however pressing the financial need, denigrates the meaning of the state parks to our way of life.

South Carolinians owe it to their children and grandchildren to protect these resources and fully fund the agencies charged with their management through our taxes.

South Carolina's public lands were intended to be owned by every South Carolinian, ensuring a stake in the state whether we own private property or not. The state parks belong to the homeless as well as homeowners. They belong to the poor as well as the rich. They belong to those who have the ability to pay as well as those who do not.

Our state parks are there for the public to visit, for the public to contemplate and for the public to appreciate in the very same way a private property owner can appreciate and take pride in the possession of her or his own estate. Hopefully, by reading this column you, too, will be inspired to convince Gov. Mark Sanford and Chad Prosser to execute faithfully our public trust.