Advertisement National Park Service considering selling sponsorships, naming rights Share Shares Copy Link Copy

America's pristine national parks need money, and so the National Park Service is considering selling corporate sponsorships and naming rights. But exactly how far does that plan go?Some fear a corporate takeover of the country's natural treasures, like Fort McHenry."I really don't like the idea. I really think the national parks are our legacy for these children and their children and their children," said Scott Rainey, a park visitor."I think it is ridiculous. It should be funded by the federal government or the state or both," said Ron Smith, a park visitor.Visitors worry about clutter and ruining historic authenticity."I think corporate sponsorships of the national parks would make it look littered. It would take away from the aesthetics," said Ralph Browning, a park visitor.The National Park Service is considering corporate sponsorships to tackle an $11 billion backlog of maintenance projects, to offset flat funding by Congress and to attract a more diverse and younger crowd. Details are spelled out in the National Park Service Director's Order No. 21."Under this proposal, you can have logo displays on virtually every park fixture and place. You can't rename the park itself or the visitor's center, but the rooms inside of it, landscaped areas, equipment, vehicles, park benches, theater seats, even the paving stones under the visitors' feet," said Jeff Ruch, executive director of the watchdog group Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility. "One of the things that we find most disturbing is what guides the decisions is, in the words of the proposal, the needs of the donor, not the needs of the park.""They can rest assured that is not the future of Fort McHenry," said Tina Cappetta, superintendent of Fort McHenry.Cappetta said critics are engaging in a gross misinterpretation and exaggeration of the Director's Order."Just like any property, it requires upkeep, and this one is pretty extensive one to upkeep," Cappetta said.The Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine would welcome corporate sponsors to help pay for landscaping, seawall repairs, public demonstrations, bus rides for city school children visits and upgrades to the museum and restrooms, and that's only a sample.Fort officials hope a corporate partner could help obtain something they don't have: a piece of the original flag that inspired the national anthem."There are smaller fragments of that flag that are in various places in the United States, and we would desperately like a piece of that flag to come back home here to Fort McHenry," Cappetta said.Critics fear companies will become a powerful influence over how parks operate."It takes what has been regarded as America's best idea and cheapens it to Madison Avenue's next gimmick," Ruch said.The National Park Service wants to act on the plan by the end of the year.Get the WBAL-TV News App