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Sally - how do you know the bear wasn't there first?
Oh, wait, you don't. Excuse the rhetorical question.
The days of government management should be drawing to a close. The continuing faith that is placed in this oversized and self-perpetuating bureaucracy with its legendary mismanagment is truly astounding! Can any of you out there name even ONE efficient federal government agency? One that is free of self-promotion, careerism and image mongering? Yeah, that's what I figured.
I say it is time to begin a dialogue about deconstructing this silly mess of vertically structured incompetence and get "the crown jewels" placed in the hands of private or semi-private organizations that care about each individual park and want to do their utmost to preserve and protect them on a place by place basis. A good first step would be to have a non-partisan commission set up to look at getting rid of the "park barrel parks" that are in existence due to political malfeasance, much like what was done for military base closures in the 1990's. Do we really need a Women's Rights NPS unit? Or a park that honors "America's copper smelting heritage" in the upper peninsula of Michigan? How about Steamtown in Pennsylvania? Are these places worth the millions that are appropriated away from Yosemite and the Everglades every year to fund their upkeep?
Once these units are properly done away with we can then concentrate on how best to divest the crown jewels from the political theater of the absurd that is the U.S. Dept. of the Interior and put them into the hands of more competent and area specific caretakers who will be dedicated to their particular park area and not to some nebulous and sappy "national park ideal". Freeman Tilden is dead. So are his half-baked and mostly silly ideas. Let's move into the 21st century with a viable plan for preservation, not a continuing template for unaccoutable careerists who move from park to park to further a job ladder climb rather than a dedication to particular places that they hold near and dear to their hearts.
It's time to deconstruct! The 100th anniversary of the NPS should be about the end of the line, not more meaningless blather about a laughable "Centennial Intiative" followed by an endless string of more meaningless intiatives and yet more inane acronyms with a new museum in Washington, DC to "honor" the contributions made by the NPS in the distant past. No folks it's time to put this whole broken system out to pasture and start anew. That is the only way we will save the parks from their biggest threat: the NPS!
You, sir, are an illiterate
Congratulations! The new interface looks great, and I'm eagerly anticipating the results of your collaboration. Both NP Traveler and Park Remark have proven their worth many times over, and this new vision should be even more valuable for those of us who love the parks.
Ranger Bob
Home Page: http://www.bobmackreth.com
Blog: http://retreadranger.blogspot.com/
Very nice new look and the content remains solid. This is gonna be fun!
Congratulations. It's great to see the two of you partner. I'm about to launch RSS feeds for the sections of the Yellowstone Newspaper (actually, they're already up, but I haven't published them yet as I see if there are any kinks). That can hardly cover the full range of stuff for all the parks, but it does a pretty good job for Yellowstone and Grand Teton. I hope you and your readers will find them useful and will let everyone know when they are live (probably July 1, though it could be a day or two sooner).
National Parks Traveler has been an amazing source for new information and fresh commentary. When I compile the aforementioned newspaper, it's always, always, always a stop along my way.
Jim Macdonald
The Magic of Yellowstone
Yellowstone Newspaper
Jim's Eclectic World
I think if have all that money to give away, and is are tax dollers. For WARs that are needless. We should NOT PAY one penny. to use parks that was payed for with tax dollers !!!!
That Chattahoocchee article was important. So was the one I posted the day before from SW Oregon on the Wild Wilderness blog --- and so is the discussion folks were having about Kachess Lake Campground in WA state. The three are all related and together they point to the future.
While people are focusing on FLREA and the affect of recreation fees per se, the truly important action is with Granger-Thye and defacto privatization.
In order to make privatization work, the public had to be denied the opportunity to recreate elsewhere on the forests and to do so for free. If forest visitors had opportunities available to recreation for free, then privatized recreation could not compete. Lynn Scarlett's Reason think-tank has made that point repeatedly.
The recreation industry doesn't get a penny from entrance fees charged under FLREA --- not one red cent. The recreation industry did not give us pay-to-play in order to enrich the agencies. The recreation industry did not give us FLREA in for its "Standard Amenity Fees". Whatever money the industry will make directly from FLREA will be derived through the provision of special, commercial, services for which "Expanded Amenity Fees" are charged.
In contrast to FLREA --- the recreation industry gets to keep 85 cents on the dollar charged under Granger Thye.
For the National Forests, the future is the privatization of access and the retention of fees under the authority of Granger Thye
I wonder if there was any secret vistor's from the NPS and American Recreation Coalition having one of those famous clandestine meeting with Mr. Cheney...of course, will never know since the secret service torn up Cheney's vistor's files. A typical operation with this administration.
Mustang Sally (aka acid tongue momma) my tribe always considers and recognizes the bear as a sacred animal regardless who was here first...what difference does it make to you...you seem so anti nature! Why!!
Birdie: How do you know the bear was "here first?" Was the bear older than the guy attacked??
1.) In the Teton case.. responsibility lies with the NPS. It is entirely thier fault as was the 2 - 1967 Glacier deaths (well documented in the “Night of the Grizzlies, by Jack Olsen”. Jackson Lake Lodge is not a wilderness area where man should know that he is in harms way, and using his wilderness savy. This is an area that the NPS has encouraged all walks of life to visit by providing/allowing the paved roads and the cushy living quarters. It is not a wilderness environment. The Grizzly is a wilderness element and should not be a part of this environment. The lodge should be moved.. the area restored to wilderness, or the grizzly and the elk kill should be moved to wilderness. The NPS/Wyoming Game and Fish? has allowed the encrouchment of the gizzlies habitat into non-wilderness areas… visitor areas, knowing placing naive tourists in harms way. This is criminal. Typical… as in the case of the Glacier 1967 deaths.. the NPS uses 20/20 hindsite to correct it’s mismanagemnt of bears. This shows how little the NPS values human life. A garbage dump near a mountain cabin in Glacier in 1967 is no different than an elk kill site near Jackson Lodge in Grand Teton. Action should be taken… not against the bear, but against the NPS and thier continued inability to manage the people and bear interface.... 3 grizzly cubs now know it is ok to chow down on tourists.
2.) In the Yellowstone photographer's mauling last month.. the fault lies with the maulee... he invaded the bears turf and invaded thier safe sapce.. This was the second time this guy has been mauled... some people just don't get it... but is was his choice.
Sally,
I feel sorry for your grandchildren who have to suffer your physical abuse. Take your verbal abuse elsewhere.
Sally,
I get this feeling that you've never read "How to Win Friends and Influence People"....
Kurt
Two things:
1. Olympic and North Cascades already protect the forests in WA. Rainer has also been the most developed, and I think that by developing it, we might not have a balance between recreation and resource protection within the park, but we will have a balance within Washington State . So I say build the road, but do it right. Whoever decided to send a bulldozer up a river isn't too bright.
2. Sally - NPT is not a place for personal attacks. You might not agree with what us "envirowhackos" have to say, but please just respect us instead of attacking. You'll find that debate works much better without ultimatums.
You tree-huggers are pathetic..."too much damage" maybe we oughta just put a FENCE around it and keep everybody out.... The storm did one helluva lot of DAMAGE too, including dumping a LOT of SILT in the river too...who ya gonna blame, God??
Crissakes, ya have to keep the infrastructure if people are gonna have a chance to enjoy the park, otherwise let's just sell it off to the highest bidder and develop it.
BRAVO!!! to Supt. Uberagua for his efforts to allow the American people to enjoy THEIR park...it DOESN'T just belong to a minority of envirowhackos who don't include Homo sapiens as part of the park ecology!
If you were my grandson, I'd SLAP some common sense into yer head!
Granma
Sanitize NPS land holdings? You might as well just plow them under, dam the rivers, and open the ecosystem to whatever type of development, be it commercial or residential, whose shadows currently cast a blight on the majority of the nation. Be certain to bear witness to the prospective outcome of any litigation brought against the Park Service, and remove the responsible judge(s) from their office as public servants when their terms expire.
It is unfortunate that one cannot account for the ignorance or sometimes blatant stupidity of the general public. These magnificient sites are NOT a child's playground. They require respect, careful planning and common sense when being approached by even the most skilled outdoorsman, let alone "Joe Vacationer" whose only outdoor pursuits are carried out behind the wheel of his SUV. Maybe the answer lies in signing a document upon entry to any wild terrain, stating that you understand and acknowledge that your own carelessness can result in death, either of yourself or another party, and you both know and agree to abide by the limitiation of your own ability when embarking upon any activity within NPS, BLM, or other public lands. It is a shame that the best way to protect the lands for future generations might be to remove the chain assists from various trails, thereby removing the NPS from any possible role and financial responsibility in the accidental deaths of the unprepared, the unequipped, and the just plain careless who enter the park system each year by the tens of thousands.
At the grand canyon, they have signs warning people about the dangers of not having enough water with strapping athletic people who got into trouble and had to be rescued; likewise I think it would be effective if the zion rangers would put up some pictures of good hikers who got into trouble on the trail and posted it up there. Tragedies could be prevented a little more, hopefully.
I'll probably get a chance to play with this Zoom H4 unit at the Nature Sounds Society's Annual Field Workshop here in Northern California. It'll be interesting to see how it performs against some gear with a more impressive price tag. I've never had good luck myself using recorders which have built-in microphones.
I look forward to hearing some of what you capture with it. Please consider contributing material to the Wildebeat -- we're looking for other story and audio contributors.
Also, thanks again for recognizing our work.
It's amazing what can happen when people become engaged in the process.
Well played, folks, well played.
Mustang Sally:
Go to Olmstead Point (over looking the Tenaya Canyon) in Yosemite and you will find a beautifully engraved plaque that expresses the words "in creations dawn", if you have a soul you will know exactly what I'm trying to say.
Loosen baby and read some poetry...it's called sensitvity training...I think you need it!
Snowybird: Whaaaaaat??? What kinda mumbo-jumbo is that??
Anon:
Your comments are reality in the face. Death that stalks in beautiful places like Yosemite is to find your soul in the creation of dawn.
People die. I'd rather fall off Half Dome than die of a coronary in my cubicle or in a twisted pile of tons of metal and plastic on an interstate highway.
People die. Why the morbid fascination with death in national parks?
The eyewitness accounts of the man who fell to his death from the Half Dome cables (via the link) were truly chilling. A very tragic sight for his children to see. But as to what the NPS will (note I'm not saying should) do? That depends. If this man's family files a wrongful death lawsuit against the NPS and wins a substantial amount of money, the cables will be taken down permanently. Unlike the cliffs and waterfalls, the NPS puts up those cables each spring and since they aren't a natural feature of the park and since the NPS is responsible for them, the NPS is liable if the presence of the cables themselves created a dangerous situation. I'm not saying whether that's just or right or what should happen. I'm just saying that that is what will happen. The NPS strapped for cash as it is, won't want to have a line in the budget for million dollar verdicts for falls from the cables. The cables will go.