WASHINGTON – With the onset of summer, people’s thoughts are turning to where to spend this year’s family vacation. Our national parks, with their breathtaking scenery and generally affordable accommodations, have long been the destination of choice for millions of families.

They may not be much longer.

If a U.S. Park Service plan to limit public access to California’s spectacular Yosemite National Park is allowed to stand, similar schemes could soon be in the works for other national parks, forcing many vacationers to go elsewhere for their relaxation.

Yosemite is one of the crown jewels of America’s national parks.

A devastating flood in 1997 destroyed or damaged much of Yosemite’s infrastructure, including roads, campgrounds and sewer systems. Under the direction of then-Secretary of Interior Bruce Babbitt, the Park Service set about developing a plan to undue the damage caused by the flood and to reconstruct the park along what officials viewed were more environmentally sensitive lines.

The Park Service proposal – officially dubbed the “Yosemite Valley Plan” – has a cost-estimate of $442 million and would reduce the number of parking spaces in Yosemite from 1,662 to 550.

Instead of driving around the park and taking in the sights at their leisure, day visitors would be shuttled to and from Yosemite Valley in a fleet of 50 buses from remote parking lots on the park’s perimeter.

What’s more, none of the 361 campsites lost in the 1997 flood would be replaced, and 164 rustic housekeeping units as well as 141 cabins and tent cabins would be eliminated. Nearly 60 percent of the park’s campsites accessible by car would be removed.

It takes little imagination to see how the prospect of being herded in and out of buses all day long will discourage parents with small children from visiting the park. Who wants to load and unload strollers, diaper bags, picnic coolers and other items on and off buses for hours on end?

“The valley and the park belong to 285 million Americans, not a select few,” says Rep. George Radanovich, R-Calif., chairman of the House subcommittee with jurisdiction over national parks. “I will not allow Yosemite to become an exclusive retreat.”

While recognizing the need to repair the damage done by the flood, Radanovich has vowed not to let the Park Service use this as a pretext to restrict public access to Yosemite. “There is a concern about locking people out of the park,” he notes.

Fewer people visiting Yosemite also will mean less business for the tourism-dependent communities surrounding the park. This should be of grave concern to communities near other national parks, because the Park Service’s social engineering isn’t likely to stop at Yosemite.

Once the precedent is set there, what’s to keep meddling bureaucrats from devising similar plans for Yellowstone, Grand Teton, Crater Lake, Great Smokey Mountains and countless other parks?

The Bush administration should heed Radanovich’s message and tell the Park Service to return Yosemite to the taxpaying public.

Bonner Cohen is a senior fellow at the National Center for Public Policy Research.