Waste of the Day: Throwback Thursday – Facebook Promotes National Parks

Topline: National parks are a great way to connect with nature and escape from technology, but someone forgot to give the National Science Foundation the memo. Back in 2011, the NSF spent $300,000 on “documentary poem” podcasts about Alaska’s national parks for tourists to listen to during their visit. The money would be worth $429,000 today.

NSF and social media promote national parks – to visitors

The documentaries directed visitors to Facebook and Twitter posts about the national parks, while they were already inside the park and could experience it for themselves.

That’s according to the “Wastebook” reporting published by the late U.S. Senator Dr. Tom Coburn. For years, these reports shined a white-hot spotlight on federal frauds and taxpayer abuses. 

Coburn, the legendary U.S. Senator from Oklahoma, earned the nickname “Dr. No” by stopping thousands of pork-barrel projects using the Senate rules. Projects that he couldn’t stop, Coburn included in his oversight reports.   

Coburn’s Wastebook 2011 included 100 examples of outrageous spending worth nearly $7 billion, including the cash spent on Alaskan podcasts.

Key facts: The grant was paid to the University of Alaska at Fairbanks, whose researchers described the project as “a digitally integrated guide” that combined “a tourist’s visit with place-based stories of meaningful science research in the Arctic.”

The National Park Service’s website described the project as “a documentary poem crafted to entertain, stimulate and enlighten the tourist with a story about the scientist’s research. If a tourist is sparked by a scientist’s story, they will make personal connections and be motivated to further participation and social interplay via on-line science networks.”

Documentary episodes included “I can qayaq or baidarka can you qayaq or baidarka?” and “I feel the earth move, YIKES!” (Qayaq and baidarka were Native American words for boats).

A documentary poem?

Search all federal, state and local salaries and vendor spending with the world’s largest government spending database at OpenTheBooks.com. 

Summary: Federal funds are usually used to support the natural beauty and wildlife in national parks, not to help hikers get a social media fix.

The #WasteOfTheDay is brought to you by the forensic auditors at OpenTheBooks.com

This article was originally published by RealClearInvestigations and made available via RealClearWire.