A Twitter account that has been verified by Snopes as having a legitimate connection to the National Park Service has described the substandard living conditions of employee housing at one NPS site.
Firefighters and other land management agency employees that work in remote areas sometimes find that government housing is their only option. The agencies are required to charge them rent at the going rate in the area — they don’t get a bargain just because it is far from civilization.
The details and the seven photos posted by @NastyWomenofNPS are specific about one NPS location and do not necessarily represent conditions at other parks.
The person described what it is like living in a $500 a month 50-year old mobile home that is 80 miles from the closest real grocery store — no key to lock the door, no heat or air conditioning in the bedroom, walls falling apart, mice enter through holes in the floor, no hot water in bathroom, ice forms in electrical outlets, insulation falls from ceiling, and the electrician said get renters’ insurance because “there will be a fire”.
Click on the tweet below to see the photos and the multiple-message thread.
But, to satisfy any of you who think you are entitled, allow me to give you a quick tour of my house. Often, park housing is dilapidated, technically condemned due to mold, lead, or asbestos, and frankly, rather unlivable.
— NastyWomenofNPS (@NastyWomenofNPS) February 25, 2019
Not all government housing is as dilapidated as described here. In some cases the local unit is doing the best they can with a very limited infrastructure budget and staff.
Are you aware of any other particularly good or bad examples of government housing?
Sagamore Hill National Historic Site has really nice housing…you got to see it
to believe it! esp the superintendents place! HOME RUN!
There is a wide disparity, even on the same district, and I have lived in both. Dolores Ranger District had awesome housing, but not enough of it. SQF had some scuzzy quarters waaaaaay back in the woods, but some decent ones. One RD in Montana had two places for employee housing – one 30 miles away in a drafty and mouse infested log cabin, and one located in a new doublewide right behind the Ranger Station in town.
People may not have to live there, but the NPS is known for poor working conditions, too, i.e., see my previous post. Mouse droppings so bad in HVAC vents that it sounds like rice jumping up and down when on. Checked the mice caught, and they were the types known to carry hantavirus. Endangered bats roosted in attics of buildings, but bat guano wasn’t cleaned out. Again, buildings condemned, but no action put forth to move employees out of them. Very poor leadership…
Cherokee hotshots, awesome barracks
True story! I worked in the interior of Yellowstone; the housing was condemned Mission 66 housing yet we paid Bozeman rates!
I couldn’t put silverware in the kitchen drawers because of the rodent infestation. Poverty with a view, indeed.
I had sweet housing. No one is forced to live there, correct? Yeah, it’s sweet rent, but maybe try moving?
Some parks are required occupancy so you are forced to live there. Additionally many park units are 2-3 hours to the nearest town/city one way. So renting is out of the question.
Sure, except for the required occupancy part.
Marais des Cygnes NWR and Quivira had nice govt housing. We were put in travel trailers at Cibola NWR that at that time were full of rat crap and we had rats so damn big that at night they would drag off sunglasses, cans of skoal, etc. I slept in a tent on the concrete pad instead.
King’s Canyon NP at Cedar Grove had great housing.
Was housed at a remote guard station for the FS on a fire crew (won’t name place), but before moving in we had to sign a lead paint and a Hantavirus agreement!
NastyWoman is right, but it isn’t only housing but work places as well: mold, vermin, huge water crickets everywhere, and they don’t listen and respond to or about condemned buildings.
No district ranger (FS) would ever pay rent, ($3/day) let alone live in govt housing @ Corn Creek, Salmon Challis-Natl Forest. Nor Rec planners, engineers, anyone who is working out in the field.
No distract ranger (FS) would pay, let alone live in any govt housing. Stories from employees at Corn Creek, Salmon-Challis Natl Forest.
Doesn’t surprise me at all. Pack rats included.
I’ve seen USFS housing just as bad as what is described by Ima Ranger. Mice urine saturated walls. Old trailer homes that should have been condemned years before. Drafty windows and doors. Rotting floors. Yup. This isn’t rare in my mind.
“Are you aware of any other particularly good or bad examples of government housing?” Really?!? Show me a park where good housing exists. It wasn’t until I started having mushrooms grow out of a wall in my basement before anyone came to take a look at a leaking backflow preventer (over a year of alerting housing, maintenance, and the safety officer)— at that point black mold had consumed most of the nearby wall. Other residents have had sewer back ups occur so that they can’t store anything in their basements. Living in the park we aren’t afforded the luxury of expectation of privacy- Conor Knighton of CBS Sunday Morning informed me of that fact when I protested him filming housing areas in the park. Then there are the offices, where because the building is historic, only certain repairs can be made–meaning we continually have dead animals that get into crawl spaces, or ceiling areas. If the smell doesn’t turn you off, maybe the animal droppings and maggots falling on your head will.