In today’s news, the National Park Service is planning to “allow the naming of benches, bricks and rooms” after donors. I can see it now – the “Bill and Melinda Gates Grand Teton Restroom Facility”.
The policy does raise some ethical questions:
Putting pressure on park superintendents to raise money “is like sending them into an ethical swamp without a flashlight,” Ruch said. “Say a big telecommunications company gives a very large donation. And six months later, they want to put a cellular tower at Mount Rushmore. The park service might very well be in a position of not wanting to displease a donor.”
I have mixed feelings about this. The Missouri Botanical Garden did this a few years ago and now every last inch of the Garden is covered with names. There are now brick sidewalks (with names on each brick), benches with names, buildings with names. They even built “entrances” to separate parts of the garden so that they could put people’s names on them. This has raised a lot of revenue for the Garden but it does somewhat take away from the enjoyment of the natural aspects of the Garden.
The retired park services employees are afraid of that very thing:
Don Castleberry, formally the regional superintendent of national parks in the Midwest, argued in an interview that national parks function as an escape from the commerce and advertising that is so pervasive in society.
“Naming bowl games after corporations is one thing, but as commercialization has increased in our lives, it seems to me that it is more important than ever to keep our national parks free of it,” he said.
I have two pet peeves about the naming craze. I hate corporate names on things because it’s too much like advertising. (Oh, let’s just say it – it IS advertising.) I don’t mind personal names IF they are in honor of someone else. I hate it when people buy space to put their own name on things. It’s just crass.
If you want to comment on the proposed policy:
Public comments on the plan can be sent by e-mail to partnerships@nps.gov.