Daniel Zhu, 10San Jose, CA Trust (Inspired by “Harlem” by Langston Hughes) Daniel Zhu, 10 What happens to trust vanished? Does it reappear Out of thin air? Does it painfully regrow like a half-alive tree? Does it haunt you- A ghost in your dreams? Does it leave you as empty- nothing but a shell? Does it destroy you and Crush you underfoot? Or does it leave you wondering If trust Can be attained At all?
Funding Our National Parks: How America’s Best Idea is Being Left in the Dark by Daniel, 10
$11.9 billion is the cost of the NPS deferred maintenance. This is because funds keep getting cut, and not a lot of measures have been taken by the government to continue to preserve “America’s Best Idea” – a name given by many to our national parks. Our leaders simply don’t seem to understand how severe the consequences are of underfunding national parks. Because national parks aren’t getting enough funds from the government, NPS staff’s wages have to be lowered and maintenance continually gets pushed back, which will ultimately cause entire parks to go out of order. A lot of the money that is supposed to be allocated to national parks is not being given to them. A SmartAsset article written by Amelia Josephson states that the NPS needed $11.5B for proper park maintenance in 2014, but the government only appropriated $3B: a little over just 25% of what the parks needed. In addition, a bill passed in 1965, called the Land and Water Conservation Fund, is supposed to provide national parks with at least $900M each year, but a lot of that money is used for other things before it even reaches the NPS. Because of this, Josephson says, “from year to year, funding is unpredictable.” As the modern economy grows and humans begin to revolve around technology, many forget about nature and its wonders. Money is used for other things, and national parks are often put at the bottom of the priority list in many different categories, especially funding. A lot of the money that is supposed to be appropriated for national parks is not being provided at all, and the health and condition of national parks is rapidly deteriorating. This significance of this underfunding is that it forces NPS staff wages to be lowered, in addition to causing urgent maintenance to be continually pushed back. Park staff are underpaid because the NPS simply can’t provide for them, and this lowering of wages will cause significant safety breaches. On Glassdoor, the stats the website has compiled shows that the average annual pay of a park ranger is only $46K, and that the average annual base pay is just $43,412. Assuming that park rangers work 365 days a year and 40 hours a week (the latter assumption is based on information from iresearchnet.com), their hourly base pay would only amount to around $20.81, and their average hourly pay would only total to $22.05. Of course, this assumption is flawed because park rangers most likely don’t work 365 days a year, but they often have to work extra hours, so these assumptions balance each other out. Obviously, the NPS doesn’t only consist of park rangers. There are also maintenance workers, laborers, forestry technicians, heavy equipment operators, etc. However, retaining the assumptions above, the highest salary listed for the NPS on Glassdoor is just a little over $30. These salaries can be compared to the salary of an average American citizen: $27/hr. It is quite shocking to think that, in terms of income, rangers are actually below average, even though they work tirelessly to preserve some of nature’s best. Wages this low will definitely not attract new rangers, and it might even cause current rangers to leave their position. Since rangers are the main enforcers of law at national parks, without them, many safety rules may not be enforced. Because of this, the safety of tourists is being compromised. During one accident in Joshua Tree National Park, because rangers were not present, volunteer workers, who undoubtedly did not know as much as an experienced rangers, were told to handle the situation. This inexperience greatly increased the chances of death; luckily, during this particular incident, that did not happen. However, it did show how important rangers are to the health, safety and continuation of a park. In addition, with no one to enforce the rules, vandalism is becoming more and more common, from teens toppling natural monuments to people doing their business on park grounds. However, a lack of rangers is only one factor of safety breaches of national parks – insufficient preservation of key park sites and places that have the potential to be dangerous is also playing a role in slowly dismantling our national parks. The National Park Service has a lot of maintenance to perform, but due to underfunding, they are unable to do so. At national parks, the expense of backlog maintenance overwhelms the amount of money that the government actually provides. According to the Joshua Tree National Park’s superintendent, David Smith, “Here at Joshua Tree, we have about $60 million in backlog maintenance. And to put that in perspective, our annual operating budget at this park is a little over $6 million.” The supposed maintenance would be performed on historic sites in the park, most notably Key Ranch and roads surrounding and passing through the park; because Joshua Tree is located on a fault, road damage is inevitable. The bottom line, says Smith, is that “[the park] doesn’t have enough money to provide the level of service the public expects.” While many parks aren’t quite as underfunded as Joshua Tree, nearly every national park needs more than what they actually get. However, Joshua Tree is not the only national park that’s underfunded. According to NPR author Nathan Rott, Yosemite needs $500 million for repairs ($100 million for critical ones), and Grand Canyon needs at least $330 million for water system upgrades. Combined with the need of other parks, this cost totals to around $11.9 billion. Given these statistics, it seems like the government is investing in everything but national parks. According to the author, most parks need at least two times the money the government provides for proper maintenance. In the case of Joshua Tree, this scale is exaggerated; the park needs 10 times of what they actually receive for backlog maintenance. While the NPS director Jon Jarvis is hopeful that the government will eventually provide, neither Trump or Biden have shown that they might do so,
The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey, Reviewed by Daniel, 10
A dangerous scavenger hunt across the world cannot be accomplished by one person. In the book The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey by Trenton Lee Stewart, Mr. Benedict sends Reynie Muldoon, Kate Wetherall, George “Sticky” Washington, and Constance Contraire on a scavenger hunt across the world, leaving clues scattered all over the place. However, not everything goes as planned. Mr. Benedict and his assistant, Number Two, are captured by the Society’s archenemy, Mr. Benedict’s evil twin Mr. Curtain. In addition, Mr. Curtain’s minions, the Ten Men, are out to capture the four children. With nearly no help from anyone else, the four children need to rely on each other more than ever now. In order to solve the mysteries and survive the perils of this journey, all four are needed to help, and there is rarely a time when a problem is solved by one of them alone. The clues that Mr. Benedict leaves often require more than one mind. The third clue was especially interesting. It read: Castle of Sticky’s namesake Against westernmost wall Not visible Need tool Olive trees nearby No cork or pine for two meters Since Sticky’s given name was George, and since he was very studious and had a very good memory, he knew that the castle – St. George’s Castle – was in Lisbon. The ship thechildren were sailing on – the Shortcut- was stopping there, that wasn’t a problem. In addition, Captain Noland – a supporting character and the captain of the Shortcut, noticed that the object clued must be hidden, inferred from the lines “not visible” and “need tool.” However, when they arrived at the castle, they found that nearly every spot was at most two meters away from cork or pine, and that there were also olive trees all over the place. Suddenly, Reynie realized that taking the first letter of each line, it spelled out “cannon.” Kate, who was excellent at gauging distances, found that there was only one cannon that didn’t have cork or pine in a two-meter radius. Using her spyglass, she also found that there was a rectangular area, in the shape of an envelope, covered in putty and paint. She quickly scraped the putty and paint off, took the envelope, and dashed back. Even though she was spotted by the Ten Men Jackson and Jillson, it still represents how the children used teamwork to crack the clue. But, it is even harder for them to piece together implicit puzzles that weren’t necessarily planned. In addition to explicitly planned clues, the characters also have to make some improvisations since some of the clues have been tampered or messed with. For example, after they find the first clue, which says “dictionary”, they still need to find it. Sticky, with his photographic memory, has memorized the locations of all the dictionaries, but the one Mr. Benedict is talking about was taken by government officials after he was abducted. In addition, the security guards are already getting suspicious, so Reynie defuses the tension by pretending to be leaving to play a game. Despairing, the children need to find a way to retrieve the dictionary without the government officials noticing. They know they need a distraction, but they don’t know how. Luckily, Moocho Brazos, Kate’s butler and previously the Strong Man for the circus, shows up and, thinking the children are in danger, riles the police up. Kate, seeing her chance, makes a run for the dictionary and manages to retrieve it without anyone noticing. These operations are much riskier and require teamwork more than ever. Teamwork is very important when solving problems. Combining multiple perspectives together is vital when investigating or thinking about something, as it broadens vision from that of one person to that of multiple people, increasing the likelihood of finding the answer. “Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much.” – Helen Keller The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey by Trenton Lee Stewart. Brown Books for Young Readers, 2009. Buy the book here and support Stone Soup in the process!
