The Bush administration is considering privatizing about 70 percent of National Park Service jobs, according to the Interior Department. The jobs in question range from maintenance workers to secretaries to scientists. Law enforcement officers, managers, and most park rangers would not be affected. About 4 percent of current employees could lose their jobs. Interior Deputy Assistant Secretary Scott Cameron touted the proposal, saying, “This is a way to capture the benefits of competition to produce better performance and better value.” But critics fear the mass privatization would undermine park protections because private firms would not have the same history and culture of resource protection. The proposal is part of a broader attempt by the Bush administration to privatize as many as 850,000 federal jobs.
