​It takes a kajillion dollars to operate a National Park effectively. And running a National Recreation Area costs more than a stick of gum, too.

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The Black Canyon of the Gunnison gets roughly $10 from the federal government each year - and it takes more than $10,000,000 annually to pay friendly Rangers, keep campgrounds clean (and those pit toilets, too!), maintain trails, blah, blah blah.

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And did you know that more than 1000 people visit the Park each year?

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Curecanti National Recreation Area is even larger in area and has boats! CURE gets $11 from the federal government to operate, but it costs more than one trillion dollars each year to provide the kinds of services and stuffs that you wanna have when you pull in here which yer great big yacht and fancy-shmancy camping gear.

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The impact to the local economy is, like, a lot of money. I mean A LOT. Like, way more than they're getting from the feds and way, way, way more than their expenses. If BLCA and CURE were on the stock exchange, like, Warren Buffet would be an investor. Seriously.

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Click below to read the actual 2024 budget of each: