Growing Protests Over Bush Administration National Parks Management Revisi

[rodeodance]

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Subject: Growing Protests Over Bush Administration National Parks Management Revisions

February 17, 2006

Growing Protests Over Bush Administration National Parks Management Revisions

Despite months of objections from conservation organizations and even a group of six Republican Senators, the U.S. Department of Interior is proceeding with proposed revisions to the management policies that have successfully guided America's national parks for almost 90 years.

Critics say there is no reason to revise the policies, which were in fact updated just five years ago. "We see no need for this total rewrite on National Park Service management policies," said Ron Tipton, senior vice president for programs at the nonpartisan National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA). "If this draft is approved, the result will be more off-road vehicles, more jet skis, more noise and less protection for the natural and cultural resources in our magnificent parks."

In a detailed analysis of Interior's proposed revisions released two months ago, the NPCA noted that the 1916 Organic Act, which created the National Park Service, directs that America's national parks be preserved "by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations." Yet, as the analysis noted, the Bush Administration's proposal "removes significant language...about the importance of conservation above all else in park decisions."

The motivation for the proposed changes, according to Bluewater Network, a division of Friends of the Earth (FOE), can be traced to "a handful of political appointees at the Interior Department." The groups say the impetus comes from Paul Hoffman, a former aide to Dick Cheney and a longtime promoter of snowmobiles and jet skis in national parks.

The administration's push for weaker parks protections is all the more notable to conservation groups in light of the fact that late last fall Republican Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, along with five other Republican senators, sent a letter to Interior Secretary Gale Norton saying "the primary mandate of the National Park Service to err on the side of preservation appears to be deemphasized in the draft."

The senators' letter went on to say that "this change appears to blur, not clarify, the Park Service's primary responsibility to keep the parks protected for the future." They added, "We still question...the need for requiring the Park Service to change its policies so quickly after publication of the last revision in 2001. The Department's first principle in rewriting Park Service policies should be to do no harm."

In a related action, Bluewater Network, NPCA and Wildlands CPR joined in a lawsuit filed against the Park Service and Interior Department late last year, alleging that those agencies were failing to protect the parks against extensive damage caused by off-road vehicles.

Park managers reported that off-road vehicles are harming archeological sites at the Grand Canyon; tearing up hiking and horseback trails in Olympic National Park; crushing animal burrows in Arches and Canyonlands National Parks; facilitating fossil poaching at Badlands National Park; and, say park managers at the Appalachian Trail, off-road vehicles are the trail's "most pernicious" problem.

In response to complaints, the Park Service conducted an internal survey of all national parks. The 256 responses, say the plaintiffs, demonstrate that off-road vehicles are causing widespread damage to America's national parks.

A public comment period on the Park Service's proposed management revisions will end February 18.

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Take Action: Tell the National Park Service not to change its management policies!

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[RazzleDazzle]

1. Please post a permalink

[OneBlueSky]

2. I've come to the conclusion that there is no aspect of our nation . . .

our government, our planet, or our lives that BushCo isn't working hard to FUBAR. i.e. "fuck up beyond all recognition" . . .