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Verizon Wireless Wants Cellphone Tower Near Grant Grove in Kings Canyon National Park

Apr 9th - 09:22am | Kurt Repanshek

Obviously, this post has struck more than a few nerves, and it's certainly good to see a wide array of viewpoints bubbling (exploding?) to the surface, although I'd appreciate a little restraint. There seem to be two primary issues here: 1. Is the raising of a cellphone tower an ill-advised, and ill-needed, intrusion into a national park setting?

Apr 9th - 05:20am | Bob Janiskee

Frank C: You said: As for this being an open forum where people are free to express their views, I see that you've only been commenting since January, so I'll let this one go. Where I come from, this is known as a "cheap shot."

Apr 9th - 02:27am | Ray Bane

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but this sure sounds like telling people how to live their lives. As for this being an open forum where people are free to express their views, I see that you've only been commenting since January, so I'll let this one go." Frank C

Apr 8th - 21:09pm | Ray Bane

"If you don't want to be bothered by your cell phone, turn it off or leave it in your car. I guarantee you won't be bothered by people on cell phones. Nor is it likely you'd be bothered by car alarms, screaming kids, barking dogs, traffic noise, sirens, loud speakers, construction noise. But please stop trying to tell other people what to do and how they should live their lives." Frank C.

Apr 8th - 17:36pm | richard Smith

For safety, yes, for talking on the phone becuse you can't think of anything else to do? Sorry, that is your problem, young or not, cell phones are not a necessity. Going 1/2 a mile to the VC takes seconds to get there on a bike.

Apr 7th - 19:09pm | Anonymous

I would like say, I had one the best time camping at dorst creek last nov.08 with my daughter's and one of there cousion,who is a girl also.These three grils thought they were going to DIE! without cell phone's. We get there on friday noon;went on a hike to muir grove and they were still trying to get a call out ,but to no avail the phone's did not work.YEA!

Apr 7th - 13:42pm | Random Walker

Working / volunteering in Our National Parks is a job unlike many others. I still have some great rambling letters from an old ranger friend.

Apr 7th - 12:58pm | Anonymous2

Key words: "My wife and I" Not everyone is married, especially at my age. it's different, obviously, when you family is living there with you and you're not depending on a phone or the Internet to communicate.

Apr 7th - 12:49pm | Ray Bane

"Not having an affordable landline, cell service, or Internet when you go home is like living in a cave. It is isolating and lonely.'

Apr 7th - 09:45am | Kirby Adams

Not everyone feels that the sound of "excited" children is the music of heaven. In fact, I would much rather hear adults yammering on a phone than kids screaming. It's wise, when discussing use of nature, to realize not everyone shares the same tastes in outdoor experiences.

Apr 7th - 08:02am | Anonymous2

As a 'young person', I take offense at that, because if you're giving a program, then it's awfully hard to talk on the phone while leading walk or talk, no? I've never turned down a job based solely on lack of cell service, but it's something that I consider when I know I won't be able to afford to pay through the nose for long distance in park housing.

Apr 7th - 07:37am | Nan

If young people are turning down jobs in this economy because of lack of cell phone service, they probably wouldn't be the best employees. I do agree that employees in parks need to be taken care of but I am tired of seeing so many people at work constantly talking and texting on cell phones. Also a cell phone does not guarantee your safety.

Apr 6th - 21:50pm | Ray Bane

Well, I guess I'll put in my two cents in this discussion. There should be parts of the larger national parks and wilderness areas where cell phones do not work and the internet is unavailable. Remoteness and isolation have special value that is becoming increasingly difficult to experience. Our electronic umbilical cords that tie us to the rest of the world should be occasionally severed.

Apr 6th - 20:48pm | Anonymous

I dont understand...Verison doesn't give a damb a bout your safty.or the disruption it will cause,concrete truck's, heavy equipment, cranes,power supply, exc....all they realy want is to make more money...also,how will they get ride of it after it becomes just another pease of junk in the woods...will it cause another big mess.. ahhhh.. ya..

Apr 6th - 20:12pm | Anonymous

Wow. Never thought I'd see so many people agreeing with Frank_C. Kinda surprising! :)

Ill-Advised Leap from a Bluff Leads to a Challenging Rescue at Buffalo National River

Apr 9th - 08:30am | k. cender

My tax dollars at work? Personally I have been burned out risking my own life to save the lives of idiots who make what should be life ending choices. A little chlorine in the gene pool; otherwise this idiot may live to breed. Sorry. ...Well not really.

NPCA: Climate Change Greatest Threat Facing the National Park System

Apr 9th - 02:08am | Ray Bane

I fear you are right, Anonymous. In some ways it seems to be an immature effort to deny responsibility for what is likely to be a worldwide crisis. We are all culpable. The ostrich-style denial is likely to prevent effective mitigation until it is literally too late.

Apr 8th - 16:02pm | Anonymous

Kurt, I don't know what more you can do to convince people that global warming is for real. There are some individuals would rather bury their heads in the sand like an ostrich and pretend there's absolutely no global warming crises at all, but just simply a little change in mother natures atmospheric chemistry...and nothing more.

Apr 8th - 11:02am | Kurt Repanshek

Let's put aside the question of whether humans are driving climate change/global warming and approach this issue from another direction. Here are some givens:

Apr 8th - 10:52am | Anonymous

These comments show why there is so little interest in Climate Change. Too many people believe it's a myth. Media are at fault in this case.. So much data comes from NASA and NOAA that demonstrates climate change. So much has pointed directly to human related causes. And yet this information is not commonly disseminated by the major news media.

Apr 8th - 10:33am | Brenda

Oh my! The humanity! The glaciers are melting, the glaciers are melting! Uh...nuthin we can do. The only thing we can do is plug all the vents and fumaroles in Yellowstone, as well as Redoubt, Kilauea, ...well you get the picture. Get a life, environmentalists!

Apr 8th - 03:53am | MRC

The glaciers at Glacier National Park are not going to vanish in twenty years, the leading researcher reinterpreted his own data and now says they will be gone by 2020: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/03/090302-glaciers-melting.... - That is eleven years from now.

Apr 8th - 01:26am | Anonymous

Conserving the scenery requires a global carbon cap-and-trade system? The NPS can no more affect global weather patterns than they could roll back the volcanoes of Hawaii. Or should we engage the organization in a crusade to stop continental drift while we're at it?

Apr 8th - 00:13am | Anonymous

So what? There isn't a damn thing we puny humans can do about it...wake up and smell the sunspots.

Apr 8th - 00:04am | Reed

Please get off the global whining hysteria and focus on our parks!

Apr 7th - 22:24pm | Bob Krumenaker

Anon: Human caused?

Apr 7th - 20:49pm | Rachel

Gotta wholeheartedly agree with Anonymous and Frank C! Follow the money...a whole lotta $$$ going to grants to study this fraud called "global; warming!" Gotta keep them there so-called "scientists" workin'!

Apr 7th - 20:40pm | Random Walker

"As Americans, we have faced tremendous environmental challenges before," the NPCA representative testified. "We met these challenges with courage, with urgency, and with a coordinated response. ...Our health and economic future depends on how we meet this challenge."

Apr 7th - 19:51pm | Kurt Repanshek

As for the Park Service's mission, wasn't there something in the National Park Service Organic Act about the agency's purpose being "to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wild life therein..."?

Apr 7th - 19:41pm | Anonymous

This tells us more about the NPCA than about the National Parks or "climate change."

A Natural History Guide to Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Apr 9th - 00:16am | Anonymous

The Smoky Mountain Directory www.thesmokymountaindirectory.com, this site is a local search engine that is new and can help you find local business information and guides in the area

Woman Dies in Fall From Angel's Landing

Apr 8th - 23:18pm | JimB

Ray - Excellent perspective!

Apr 8th - 20:21pm | Ray Bane

Back in the '60s and '70s, I spent time hunting and traveling with Eskimos and Koyukon Indians in northern Alaska. They were true experts when it came to dealing with the wilds. From them I leaned the importance of patience and common sense in dealing with nature. They rarely took unnecessary risks and were masters of "hunkering down" in the face of extreme environmental conditions.

Apr 8th - 13:11pm | JimB

My sincere compliments to deanhicks for his comments above! Just do what me and my son did. TURN around and live to laugh and visit more parks.

Apr 8th - 09:01am | deanhicks

We made the trip to Zion in 99. My wife and the 2 boys(ages 18, one which was not ours) decided to hike AL. When we got to Scout's Lookout, we realized that we had quite a ways to go. Well, the 3 of them took off and I remained at SL. After about 5 minutes, I decided that I would follow them. WELL, with huge backpack and tri-pod in tow, I set out.

Apr 7th - 22:49pm | Anonymous

I don't want to see anybody get hurt. It would be so easy to make angle's landing safe by making it mandatory for people to use a harness and having a cable that run the whole length. People could clip into the cable eliminating the risk of an accidental fall. The last thing i want to see is sombody fall while i am on vacation.

Latest Lodging Deals at Sequoia, Olympic National Parks and Lake Powell National Recreation Area

Apr 8th - 22:09pm | Anonymous

Lake powell link should be - http://www.lakepowell.com/dx109/

Apr 7th - 20:52pm | Anonymous

"Earth-friendly" vehicle, hmmmmm...I was gonna stay there next month...I think I'll go elsewhere.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park Celebrates the 75th Anniversary of the Civilian Conservation Corps

Apr 8th - 18:14pm | Kurt Repanshek

Frederic, the park has a pretty well-stocked in-house library. You should probably start there -- 865-436-1296. Good luck!

Apr 8th - 18:07pm | Fred Gannon

One of my relatives - he's 101 - was offered a job by the U.S Government in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, which was the newly established headquarters of what was to be “Great Smoky Mountains National Park”. According to his own words, "my assignment was to design and construct parts of a newly required highway network. Labor consisted in CCC and my foremen were local mountain woodsmen.

NPCA, Park Retirees File Lawsuit to Halt Change in National Park Gun Rules

Apr 8th - 17:36pm | Terrence MacArthur

It'll hurt the wildlife, it'll increase the danger. Where are the facts tio back these claims up? As usual anti-gun people make statements claiming that their opinions are facts. The actual facts are that incredibly few CCW permit holders ever do ANYTHING that violates any gun use laws.

Elk Culling Under Way in Rocky Mountain National Park

Apr 8th - 14:37pm | Anonymous

Jim, I am not sure if you still can but, there is a place where you can put your name in and they draw out as many names as elk shot. If your name is drawn you get the meat. I am sure if you just google it you will find something on it.

NRA Appeals Ruling Blocking Concealed Carry in National Parks

Apr 7th - 18:30pm | Rick Smith

Licensed to kill? Gunmen in killings had permits By DEBORAH HASTINGS (AP National Writer) From Associated Press April 07, 2009 4:45 PM EDT They had more in common than unleashing carnage - nearly every gunman in this monthlong series of mass killings was legally entitled to fire his weapons.

Tracing The Postage Stamp-Sized History of the National Park System

Apr 7th - 18:15pm | Kurt Repanshek

Dawn, I'm afraid I don't know of any websites where you can gauge the worth of your stamps, other than Ebay. In the past I've been told to take them to a stamp dealer to evaluate. But I believe that might require a fee. The only other suggestion I have is to check out this website and see if it offers any leads.

Apr 7th - 18:05pm | Dawn

I have several of the national park stamps (the 1934 year ones) and I was just wondering what would they be worth if I was to sell them? Also, I have several president stamps that I was wondering wether they were worth anything? Is there a website that tells you how much your stamps are worth? I hope you will respond back. Thanks for your time. Dawn

Iconic Trail at Grand Canyon National Park Set for a Major Makeover

Apr 7th - 17:34pm | Rick Smith

While we are into genetic manipulation, let's also make them pee less often on the trail. Rick Smith

Apr 7th - 15:16pm | Bob Janiskee

Well, let's at least insist that they design mules that are not so gosh darned wide!

Apr 7th - 15:09pm | Anonymous

I almost got trampled by mules! Need to reduce the number allowed on the trails.

Apr 7th - 09:31am | Cynthia and Al

We are glad to hear you are improving the trail. We have been hiking the South Kaibab and Bright Angel trails for almost 40 years. The Grand Canyon holds the most spectacular sites in the world.

Creature Feature: Meet the Asian Swamp Eel, "the Animal Equivalent of the Kudzu Vine?"

Apr 6th - 18:35pm | Ray Bane

It is truly sad to see this tragedy unfold. The potential destruction this fish can cause is almost unimaginable. Here in Hawaii exotic plant and animal species have decimated the native habitat and caused scores of indigenous species to become extinct. National parks are certainly not exempt from the ravages of alien species.

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