Over at High Country News they note that how the candidates think about economics may have an impact on public lands use and maintenance. The example given is maintenance on Going to the Sun Road in Glacier National Park.
I am not entirely convinced (Congress decides funding, not Presidents sitting in isolation), but it's an interesting point nonetheless and one worth reading about we we near the election:
"Candidate Obama has promised to stimulate the economy via public works projects. This would likely include significantly increased funding for current and deferred maintenance needs at our national parks. Candidate McCain, however, favors stimulating the economy by making the Bush tax cuts for the rich permanent while holding down government spending. Under a McCain administration funding current and backlog maintenance needs at the national parks is unlikely. A McCain Administration is likely to be more interested in either privatizing the Going to the Sun road or charging a fee for its use sufficient to pay for maintaining the road. Either way everyday Americans would likely be priced right off the Going to the Sun road while the well healed could use their tax breaks to pay the hefty user fee which would be needed to generate adequate road maintenance funds."
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