| Page 1461 | National Parks Traveler

This will be my last comment on this thread because I think we have explored all the angles. There are people who feel that they cannot be safe without carrying. Fine. All I say is that the parks are safer without a lot of guns than with lots of them. That's what the majority of protection rangers say and I think we should pay some attention to their point of view. Rick Smith

Oct 19th - 19:13pm | former ohio pol...

As a former Ohio police officer and deputy sheriff, I find some of the comments about concealed carry in our national parks very offensive. First of all anyone who has a concealed carry permit has undergone an extensive background investigation. These people are responsible ones and have had the proper training to carry a concealed handgun.

Oct 19th - 13:58pm | dtroutma

I WAS a law enforcement officer and Ranger. I also spent 23 years at BLM, documenting HUNDREDS of cases of TOO (Target OF Opportunity) damage to public lands outside National Parks. The issue is NOT just licensed and concealed, but LOADED weapons in the parks and refuges, with free access, outside legitimate hunting areas and seasons.

Oct 18th - 22:32pm | JimB

As a follow-up to Rick Smith's accurate observation, and as requested by several posters, here's some additional perspective from the standpoint of someone who performed law enforcement in parks for 3 decades:

Oct 18th - 14:23pm | Rick Smith

Frank C-- I am not providing a study, only speaking from personal experience. Every time I visit a USFS area in NM to camp or hike, I see signs that are shot up. I have seen similar shot up signs on BLM and USFS lands in other states. One sees little of this kind of thing in the weapons-free national parks. I think there is a relationship.

Oct 17th - 12:50pm | Anonymous

This will cause more Game wardens to get their brains blown out. Someone will commit a crime and a Game Warden willl investigate and the person will just shoot the dude instead of dealing with what the hell could happen if there were indifferent repercussions. These permits were designed for Black bear areas of the country.

Oct 17th - 09:18am | Rick Smith

Just to set the record straight, like Jim, I was a protection ranger and carried a weapon for at least half my career. I don't think our points of view are irrelevant. Beamis' claim that most NPS employees have a liberal bias is laughable. During my 31 years in the NPS, I met far more conservatives than I did liberals. Rick Smith

Oct 17th - 08:55am | Anonymous

Re: "it's not that people are trying to change the Second Amendment; it's that people are ignoring it. What about the right to keep and bear arms "shall not be infringed" is unclear? "

Oct 17th - 04:36am | Texas-Fight

It's interesting to finally see a comment from a retired LEO Ranger. I hope my side views your comments accordingly. I will point out that regardless of when you served, if you served in the Parks, you would not have dealt directly with concealed carry licensees since carry has not been allowed in parks since the modern advent of licensing.

Oct 17th - 03:22am | Texas-Fight

I would suggest talking to Law Enforcement Rangers. Better yet, talk to a National Forest Service Law Enforcement official. National Forests already have concealed carry, and have had no problems with licensees.

Oct 16th - 22:27pm | Kirby Adams

Who's trying to change the Constitution or the Second Amendment? Are we talking about the amendment that states: "The right of the people to keep and bear arms, including carrying them anywhere they please with total disregard for others' opinions, shall not be infringed..." ?

Oct 16th - 22:26pm | d-2

We have reached the point in America where expertise is referred to as "bias."

Oct 16th - 20:51pm | JimB

In response to the request by a previous poster, here are some comments from a member of CNPSR who performed full law enforcement duties for 29 of my 30 years in the NPS. I worked in 8 parks including several with very active law enforcement programs: Lake Mead, Grand Canyon, and Colonial NHP, plus one park (Glacier) where the question of bears and weapons often comes up.

Oct 16th - 19:59pm | Anonymous

No offense, Beamis, but that's a load of crap. The Constitution isn't some rigid document that stands still - we're allowed to use common sense laws, as the Supreme Court has said numerous times.

Oct 16th - 19:30pm | Kurt Repanshek

Beamis, Since Rick is a member of the coalition, and since you said, "What a CNPSR member has to say about this is utterly and completely irrelevant," I think it's pretty clear you implied that Rick's views were irrelevant.

Oct 16th - 18:45pm | Kurt Repanshek

Beamis, I'd say what coalition members have to say is highly relevant, more so than folks who visit parks once or twice or even a dozen times a year. And for someone like Rick, who spent more than three decades on the ground in the parks, I'd say his two cents is incredibly relevant.

Oct 16th - 18:26pm | Rick Smith

Wow--"What a civilian employee of the NPS has to say abouty this is utterly and completely irrelevant." Whose opinions other than those of NPS employees should we consider then? Texas-Fight's? People who have seen a gun in real life? Pro-gun miscreants? Rick Smith

Oct 16th - 17:51pm | Texas-Fight

Wonderful, the usual group of knee-jerk uninformed anti-gun miscreants have reared their heads to complain about the forthcoming rule change. Again, let's examine Texas CHL conviction rates vs. the general population to see just how bloodthirsty and trigger-happy license holders are: In 2006, there were 258,162 active CHLs, but only 140 total convictions.

Oct 16th - 13:26pm | Anonymous

Add Alaskan Gov. Palin to the equation here, regarding the National Parks, you'll see aerial game slaughter within the park boundaries. Again, guns within the National Parks is a dangerous precedent in policy making. Parks are for restive peace and serenity...not for gun touting fools!

IMBA: Not Every Park Suitable For Mountain Biking, No Interests, Currently, For Trails in Wilderness Areas

Oct 20th - 09:10am | Bryan Faehner

Although we haven't yet seen the proposed rule change from the Park Service, the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) believes that the current mountain biking regulations appear to be working well and that there is no demonstrated need to change them.

Oct 20th - 08:24am | Anonymous

I have worked at park where the vast majority of our trails were multi-use. Generally, we didn't have problems with biker/hiker conflicts. Most of our problems came out of horse/hiker conflicts that arose from horses being on hiking-only trails and spurs.

Oct 20th - 07:45am | Mark E

To respond to the first poster, please note that mountain bikes have only recently been reintroduced to most Boulder trails -- thanks to the good work done by the Boulder MountainBike Alliance (BMA) -- and are still banned from many of Boulder's most popular trails.

Oct 20th - 00:43am | Anonymous

Yeah you are so right! Hiking is such a better activity that we should discriminate against all other users, horses included. Give me a break! The image you create in your post above is so incorrect and based solely in Sierra Club religious dogma its sickening.

Oct 19th - 17:51pm | Anonymous

Mountain bikes in national parks are totally inappropriate, other than on carriage roads and other wide and heavily used areas. If you want to see the environmental damage caused by large numbers of mountain bikes, simply go to Boulder, CO, where IMBAs headquarters are. Miles and miles of trails there are heavily eroded, extensively widened, muddied, and otherwise destroyed by mountain bikes.

Mission

Oct 20th - 02:54am | JetPunk

Great site. I bought a national parks pass last year and visited several, so stumbling upon your site brings back memories. I still haven't visited Yellowstone yet.

Interior Officials Planning To Make It Easier for Mountain Bikers to Gain Backcountry Access in Parks

Oct 20th - 01:49am | Dave

Kurt, Thanks for the response. I stand corrected on the compensation issue. I'm new to this site, and assumed from its apprearance you were a paid staffer. I note from the profile linked to your photo that you do have more than a little professional journalism experience, so my assumption based on website appearance and the quality of your writing doesn't seem like a great leap.

Oct 18th - 15:26pm | Zebulon

Let's be clear: wilderness should be open to bikes as Congress contemplated it when it passed the act over 40 years ago (look it up... it's in the notes). Bikes are no more mechanized than carbon fiber hiking poles and do less damage than horses. The number of visitors to the parks is dwindling every year.

Oct 18th - 10:47am | Kurt Repanshek

Dave, unlike IMBA's track record on this issue, in which, once they got their feet in the door, they slowly expanded what they really seem to want from the National Park Service, I think the Traveler's position has been clear from the get-go, as I previously noted. That said, as to your concerns:

Oct 18th - 09:39am | Bob Janiskee

You are quite correct, d-2. Dave's remark is way out of line. Everyone who writes for Traveler is an unpaid volunteer. Kurt also has significant out-of-pocket expenses that aren't reimbursed.

Oct 18th - 09:26am | d-2

Dave, I don't think it is correct to say Kurt gets paid. My understanding is this is a webside serviced by volunteers. To be fair.

Oct 17th - 20:47pm | Dave

Kurt, I find it disappointing that you don't respond to any of the substantive criticisms from the posts above mine, nor the points I made, but chose to respond by going off on my use of the word disingenuous. I don't expect to change your point of view, but I hope you'll hear me out, and then maybe respond thoughtfully to my comments and those that preceded mine.

Oct 17th - 20:36pm | zebulon

The opponents to opening trails to mountain bikers never talk about their real motivation: selfishness. They just don't want to share the trails with other users. The arguments about safety, erosion, sense of belonging, and whatever else one comes up with is utter nonsense. The real motivation here is that established users just don't want to share their recreational areas with others.

Oct 17th - 09:18am | Kurt Repanshek

Disingenuous?

Oct 17th - 00:26am | Dave

I think Rangertoo makes some really good points. As it stands, National Parks are pretty much known as "NO Go" zones for bicycles, and not just mountain bikes. You can be ticketed for riding your beach cruiser on a dirt service road that is open to NPS motorized vehicles. That frankly defies logic.

Oct 16th - 23:50pm | Dave C

I'm an avid hiker, fly fisherman and mountain biker. IMBA has taken an approach that is very considerate of other trail users. I support including mountain biking using the IMBA approach in appropriate locations within the national parks. This includes access on some good single track trails.

Sky-High Ginseng Prices Boost Illegal Harvest in Blue Ridge Parkway and Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Oct 19th - 19:47pm | Anonymous

dont know of anyone growing it in this area but i hear that some have..i do harvest some blood root and wild yam,and wish ginseng was bringing 900 or better a pound as of 10/19 /08 try about 265 dollars a pound lot of work for that kind of money

Woman Dies in Fall From Angel's Landing

Oct 18th - 21:49pm | liz

I went from Zion today. I thout it would be cool to hike up Angels Landing. But, on the bus they taked about the trail, and now I never want to go on angel landing hike. I have very good balance but i'm clumsy i have been ever sence I was little. Hearing about all the people who died did not make me more scared, It made me sad but they knew the risk.

"Talking" Buoys Deployed Along Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail

Oct 17th - 21:40pm | Sabattis

Given the unique nature of the trail, it seems like this buoy project is a form of "cell phone interpretation" that most Park advocates can all agree on. It looks like an innovative approach to tell this important story in a very unique sort of Park...

Oct 17th - 06:55am | Marylander

Too bad my sailboat is already out of the water in preparation for winter... I can't wait to find one of those talking buoys!

How to Hijack a National Park

Oct 17th - 15:58pm | Rangertoo

Jim and MRC, I can agree that the momument belongs to the nation - because, by definition, all units of the NPS belong to the nation. The question is - should it? What about other monuments like George Rogers Clark and Perry's Victory? NPS gets these places, like JNEM, because a local government started in and then could not afford to finish it or operate it.

Oct 17th - 15:35pm | Bob Janiskee

Recall that whole blocks of historically buildings on the waterfront were destroyed so that arch could be built. Filling in the open space with crap would be the ultimate insult.

Oct 17th - 14:35pm | MRC

Never been there, don't plan to go soon, but let me get my .02 into this: The Jefferson Expansion Memorial is meant to be a symbol for the whole nation. And it is about reaching out, into the open space of the West. Well, the west wasn't that open, at least from a Native American point of view, but let's ignore that.

Oct 17th - 13:24pm | JimB

Not everyone would agree, but if a consensus were to be reached on your position, then the area should be transferred entirely to the city or state, rather than diluted on a piece-meal basis as this legislation would do.

Oct 17th - 11:49am | Rangertoo

It's about time. This place is not a national park - it's an amusement park. The NPS spends more than $10 million a year managing this ride and museum - something that the private sector could do with the income generated. I will acknowledge that the court house story of the Dred Scott decision is worth preserving as a state historical site. This was created by the City or St.

Imagine the Impacts of Climate Change on the National Park System

Oct 17th - 15:17pm | Anonymous

Frank C., I think there's a similar report to yours (loose in facts) that was put out sometime ago by Exxon...and like oil companies. I don't put much credence in oil company research teams, especially when they exploit the motto:Drill baby drill!

Longtime Yosemite Wilderness Ranger Retires

Oct 17th - 14:52pm | Nora Curiel

I volunteered in her department the summer of 2001 when she led Laura Bush through the High Sierra Camps with her friends. I dropped off her Dodge at the Cathedral Lakes Trail head and then hiked in on a Wilderness Technician patrol that did a big loop from there to Merced Lake and then back to Tuolumne Meadows. I met the party during my hike, and forgot to get a picture!

Conservation Groups Sue to Cut Air Pollution Over Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Oct 17th - 09:18am | Smoky Mtn Hiker

In my view, the answer to this problem is a no brainer: nuclear power. It's 100% clean. It's renewable. It's safe to operate, and the transportation and storage of nuclear waste have been scientifically proven to be safe. Most of the power generated in France comes from nuclear power.

Oct 17th - 06:54am | Marylander

I, too, have photos documenting the demise of air quality over the Smokies. It really brings the point of just how bad it really is to an undeniable state. How sad....

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