Tuesday, March 21, 2017

RV industry tracking Trump's budget cuts

Recreational vehicle industry officials are monitoring President Trump’s proposed budget cuts and their impact on federal camping facilities. “The RV Industry Association expresses some concern about the ability to address the $12 billion maintenance backlog while absorbing a 12 percent decrease in DOI’s (Department of Interior’s) budget,” the Recreation Vehicle Industry Association said in a news release Tuesday. The RVIA said the budget would cut $1.5 billion from the Department of the Interior. That department oversees the National Parks Service, the Fish and Wildlife Service and the Bureau of Land Management, three federal agencies at the center of outdoor recreation in the nation. Trump’s proposal states that funds will be provided to protect, conserve and provide access to public lands while increasing investment in deferred maintenance projects, according to the RVIA, the organization intends to be active in advocating that such maintenance continues. “Investing in America’s great outdoors is imperative to safeguard the health of the $50 billion RV economy,” said RVIA President Frank Hugelmeyer. “At a time with a record number of RVs headed into the outdoors, steps should be taken to ensure adequate and safe infrastructure exists for this revenue driving segment of the federal government. RVIA applauds proposals in the budget blueprint to increase investment in deferred maintenance projects and to leverage taxpayer investments with public and private partnerships. RVIA looks forward to working with Congress and the administration on the final budget to prioritize outdoor recreation, address the maintenance backlog and expand access to federal lands for RVers.” The RVIA represents approximately 400 manufacturers and component suppliers producing 98 percent of all RVs made in the United States, according to the organization...more

They seem to forget about state parks and recreation areas. There are 6,600 state parks encompassing 14 million acres. Seems to me you could do a helluva lot of recreating on state lands alone. Moreover, the total acreage in state parks has grown by 37 percent since 1978. See this Resources For The Future Backgrounder.

1 comment:

drjohn said...

rving in the national parks has no interest to me, to many regulations and rules, but for twenty dollars per night at state parks , some with full hookup for around twenty dollars is what I like