Comment on FR Doc # 2026-09876
Anonymous AnonymousSupportIndividual
Summary: An individual commenter supports closing the road to motor vehicles in Denali National Park to reduce maintenance costs and promote "rewilding." They argue for decommercializing public lands and limiting visitor numbers to prioritize nature over commercial operations.
I recommend to close the road to motor vehicles. I biked the road once it is a North American safari. I also know the road is geologically unstable and costly to maintain. The park service has a backlog of maintenance projects in the billions of dollars.
The best thing the park service could do is rewild parks, take out the hotels and developments and get rid of stuff that requires maintenance. Put limits on visitors as well. The parks were not created so local communities could get rich exploiting the parks.
Decommercialize public lands there are enough public with the skills to safely enjoy the parks they don't need a guide who they can't afford anyway taking up limited permits. Commercial operations are no longer necessary or appropriate.
The road would be a nice gravel bike ride and in a few decades become a nice mtb bike packing ride, or if you prefer a nice backpack.