National Parks To Stay Ad-Free

The national parks will not become a new frontier for American advertisers anytime soon.

Park Service Director Fran P. Mainella upheld tight restrictions on advertising and marketing in the parks this month when she issued new guidelines that did not include changes that would have permitted some employees to solicit donations and give donors the right to slap their names on rooms, benches and bricks.

Another change proposed last year, and recently rejected by Mainella, would have allowed the Park Service to accept alcohol and tobacco company donations for the first time.

"Some level of donor recognition, if tastefully done, is a good idea," Deputy Park Service Director Stephen P. Martin said. "Too much of it, and it can go downhill really fast."

About $100 million in donations and $150 million in entrance fees augment the taxpayer funds that support the national park system, which has an annual budget of about $2.2 billion.

Park rangers and other employees, advocacy groups and environmentalists complained that the proposals would have opened the door to an unseemly amount of commercialization. The guidelines were last set in 1998 and are supposed to be reviewed every five years.

Much of the private support for national parks is contributed through the National Park Foundation, chartered by Congress in 1967. Companies such as American Airlines Inc., Discovery Communications Inc., Eastman Kodak Co. and Ford Motor Co. have each donated $5 million or more.

-- Associated Press