Recent comments

Get your fat butts out of your toy ORV's and wake up and smell the coffee. This fragile beach area is not a babies play pen to screw around in and make huge doughnuts and ruts all day in your oil dripping OVR's. If your such a gas guzzeling hot rod Harry, with no concern for the enivornment in which your destroying, may I suggest such area's as Crawford Texas. They just love big trucks that mutilate the land, and desecrate the ecosystem, and destroy the wildlife. Hey Theresa, the "Organic Act" was written to protect us from idiots (like a few that I know who are running and ruining this country) from making this country looking like trashed out dust bowl...and it's coming sister! Most Americans want a clean decent environment that can co-exist with wildlife and nature. I know there's a few callous Americans out there that still believe in thee old western philosophy: rape and pillage is good, suck it for all it's worth and greed is good... with the me-me-me attitude! Beaches are for public enjoyment that can co-exist with nature, and not to be used as gasoline alley for oil leaking OVR's...as seen on this blog.

We need to get rid of a lot of there worthless, overbearing enviro rules like the "Organic Act" and NEPA...let the taxpayer decide these issues...put it up for a vote.

You all rock. Thanks for posting, for thinking and for not being sheep. Heh. This thread has made my day for some unknown reason.

Even if you all disagree on what needs to be done, we agree something needs to be done.

Picking one experience is difficult, but there is one that stands out in my mind: my first view of Delicate Arch in Arches NP. I had spent the previous two days in the park, hiking and photographing the surreal formations, as well as building myself up for the hike to Delicate Arch. The hike itself was awesome; climbing the steep slickrock slope was a great challenge with terrific views. But nothing compares to rounding the last corner of the trail and getting a visual (and emotional) kick in the rear as that fantastic rock sculpture comes into view. It's a place that every national park lover should see.

It's easy to see how GSMNP is so popular when you consider that the majority of the country's population is east of the Mississippi and factor in vacation time contraints. Another factor is the proximity to the Blue Ridge Parkway. (Two birds with one stone.)

As far as footprint damage, I am guessing that most are simply passing through on the way to Dollywood or the Cherokee casino, never really visiting the park.

Firstly, let me again commend Beamis, Frank & others for challenging the status quo at higher levels. Such dialog is essential. For my purposes, I've chosen to attack the problem at the park level, by offering some simple, common sense solutions that I believe will help to get the NPS back on track.

Not long ago I worked at a park where, within a short period of time, three of its seven top managers moved on to other parks. Their positions remained vacant for a cumulative period of about three years. When I'd ask employees if they missed these managers, the typical response was "H--- no, now we can actually get some work done!" Meanwhile, the park's janitor left his job. The remaining managers convened an emergency meeting, during which they decided to hire a replacement janitor by the following week. Estimated savings to the taxpayers for the lapse of the three managers was over $200,000.

That was a "good park." The bad ones hire more managers and don't rehire janitors, trail crew staff, and information desk rangers. Those positions siimply disappear, much to the detriment of the parks and their visitors.

Some may argue that large numbers of managers are needed to complete such processes as writing reports, developing plans, implementing initiatives, attending meetings, etc. In a future Simple Proposal I'll spell out how these tasks can be elminated or significantly minimized, thereby allowing a return of funds to the truly important front-line jobs.

Simple Proposal #1: Hire more Indians and fewer Rajahs.

Some unthoughtful, unedited and mindful mosey meanderings…
Americans all excited and satisfied with voting every four years for the presidency bothers me. It is difficult for me to believe in and support a government that is voted into office by 51% of 47% of eligible voters. I believe that only when "We the People" vote wholly at the State and Local level (do you know your commissioner of the sewers?) will these states be united.
It is a pacified public which allows the incorporation of the feds. When did freedom become defined as a choice between a ford or mercedes?
Seceding from the union perks my interest, it does have its romantic side (as in a departure from the public’s pacified sensibility, towards idealistic expectations.) Though talking outright revolution, a take over of the federal government gets me down right excited (as I believe it should all Americans.) I will even start it with a rewording of the Declaration of Independence, from the stale “Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness” to Aldo Leopolds "Adventure without regard to prudence, profit, self-improvement, learning or any other serious thing"
Anyway.... should probably head outside, rake up some leaves and check the gutters.

My second trip to the Grand Canyon, when I made it down 1.5 miles and back with my best girlfriend from college. Truely a life changing experience that made me promise to come back when my sons are in their teens and make it all the way to the bottom and back.

Lisa

Kurt-

Your concerns for the long-term health and future stewardship of the parks is well justified. But in many aspects Beamis, Frank and others are also quite justified in their contempt for the current NPS management regime, specifically their inability to effectively handle the exact issues that you all are addressing in your latest series of posts. True, I am also a blatant advocate of scrapping the current system as a whole, based in no small fashion on this particular ineptness. The list describing the reorganization of the network is far too vast for this forum, but I would like to submit a few short notions for your consideration.

First, total privatization is not the goal. It has too many pitfalls, mainly pertaining to the same sort of mismanagement that we are currently blessed with the burden of under the existing umbrella. If I may, "publicazation" is what I have targeted and advocated mucho times within many posts on this site. This next item won't be popular either, but if the governing bodies can tax and spend for irrational wars and foreign subsidies, then an internal usage of funding, existing or brought through new revenue sources, while not popular, if either in part or wholely derived from those current wasteful expenditures, should prove to be at least palatable for those of us lablelled as the "general public". I, for one, would most certainly prefer my tax dollars to be used on the homefront for security, medical, preservation and the like as opposed to literally bribing foreign dignitaries and lining pockets and making their retirement MOST comfortable, along with their Swiss bank accounts. All this accomplished by a seperate entity, removed from the federal government ranks. I am quite aware that under our current legislature, only governmental bodies are authorized to function as taxing bodies. That can be ammended quite easily and limited quite specifically all in one fell swoop. Not popular, but quite doable.
Second, the concessionaires are truly non-essential. Although I have previously stated that the park system should be most highly focused on the preservation aspect of the system, it doesn't take a great deal of time of intelligence to manage lodging network. I'll get blasted for that comment, but the truth remains that no matter who is driving the boat, the lodges will maintain their capacity where they currently do, and others will continue to have peak-season vacancies due to less than advantageous locations. Employee-wise, their are many who freely choose to make a career of it in the various hotel / motel chains, so the reality of it is that the jobs themselves aren't that unattractive. Placing the proper people in the proper positions is the trademark of any successful business endeavor, and this would be no exception for the new management team.
And briefly, third, Congress is most capable and has been enabled to erase the current backlogs that are a justified concern of us all. But the fat and happy old buggers aren't motivated by internal issues as much as they seek continued self-gratification and simultaneously insulating themselves from all blame internationally, along with cementing their precious faces on the Hill for all eternity, or at least their own personal eternity. I believe that we would just be relieving them of a burden that they are neither willing nor frankly, interested in rectifying anytime in the next millennium. Let's face it, what's 8-10 billions dollars in the grand scheme of things, governmentally speaking? It amounts to less than the monthly waste of the current fiscal budget, and yet nobody can find "extra" monies to be dedicated to a domestic issue. On the other hand, a miles-long fence is budgetally obtainable in a heartbeat? Gimme a break!

I'll send you a more "itemized" proposal, similar to something you can play "W" with, peruse at your leisure and line-item veto while having a good laugh over after ski season commences and you need to relax by the fire for a spell.

Once again,
unable to sleep,,,
WAITING for the 21rst to arrive!
I don't know how many bears have been slaughtered in the last 20 days. I am pretty sure that I don't want to.
I've written a few comments here, and I wrote to every person that I know,(also forwarded the video and information from ALL sides), and have asked for their thoughts on this "hunt."
Most of them ARE hunters, but they didn't brag,or boast, like Mr. or Mrs. "anonymous" did.
They all seemed amazingly shocked by what they read and what they saw.
I just needed to hear from all, and how they viewed this issue.
I am not anti-hunting.
But this obviuosly is NOT hunting.
And they all seem to feel the same way.
"Sport" and "Trophy" hunting is just a "thrill kill."
I will NEVER understand the killing of ANY animal just for the hide and the skull.
I CERTAINLY wouldn't be impressed with ANY man who had anything like that hanging on his wall or lying on the floor.
I now am more afraid of the humans up there, than I am ANY predator.
Especially the worlds most beautiful Brown bears.
Please instruct your bear viewing guides and your bush pilots for "day viewers" and also for the fortunate people like myself who get the privilege of staying longer, to tell each PAYING guest,(the ones who work all year like me to save up enough money to take these trips) more of what happens to these SAME bears in October.
I PROMISE you, if you put that part in your "Alaska Brochure", we will stop coming!
So, just stop the "hunt" altogether.
Again, it's 2007, please wake up America.
PLEASE...............