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06/19/2009 - 10:00amPruning the Parks: It Took the Park Service Over 20 Years to Get Out from Under the Kennedy Center One surely wonders "why" about the commitment to Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts (or Blossom Music Center for that matter.) Many major cities in the US have outdoor summer concert venues. Its hard to find anything "National" about Wolf Trap at all, other than that it happens ...
03/20/2009 - 5:25amHouse Fails to Pass Massive Lands Bill That Would Have Aided National Park SystemCongressional leaders have moved quickly on this, using some parliamentary maneuvers in the Senate and an agreement to avoid a filibuster to get the Senate to pass a revised version of the bill and send it back to the House. The procedures used by the Senate on this one mean ...
03/16/2009 - 10:24pmShould Ocmulgee National Monument Be Transformed into a National Park By Stimulus Funds?One does start to wonder if they shouldn't just rename everything a National Park and be done with it. I would argue though, that what Park Advocates should campaign for would be legislation (ala the Antiquities Act) to allow the President to reclassify the designation of any NPS Property. This ...
03/12/2009 - 4:59amHouse Fails to Pass Massive Lands Bill That Would Have Aided National Park SystemAs a little more detail on what happened here, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi tried to pass this bill under "suspension of the rules" - a procedure that doesn't allow for amendments, but requires a 2/3 vote for passage. This was important because it was an ordeal to get ...
03/10/2009 - 9:42pmHow Valuable Are Fossilized Mammoth Bones To the National Park System?"But is this site unique enough to be added to the National Park System...?" The career professionals at the National Park Service have apparently answered "yes" to this question, and a quick read of their Final Report makes it clear why. The report can be accessed here: http://parkplanning.nps.gov/document.cfm?parkID=442&projectId=12000&documentID=24485 Here is ...
03/05/2009 - 11:05pmWhen It Comes to National Parks, is it an "Earmark" or Prudent Spending?In this case the significant issue with earmarking is this: - the National Park Service is given an amount of discretionary funding in the budget - without earmarks, those funds will be directed towards projects determined by the mostly career staff at the National Park Service - withe earmarks, those ...
03/05/2009 - 10:57pmCommittee: Keep Mount St. Helens Out of the National Park SystemI too am disappointed by what I see as a short-sighted decision by the local committee. The eruption of Mt. St. Helen's is an iconic event in our Nation's history, and it seems to be a very notable omission from the National Park System.
03/05/2009 - 12:10amStimulating the National Parks: Good For the Short-Term, But Then What?Yes, the Park Service may have done rather well compared to the Fish&Wildlife Service and BLM, but those agencies tend to have a lot fewer facilities and capital needs than does the National Park Service. And if you start making the comparison outside of land agencies, then the small stimulus ...
03/04/2009 - 11:45pmThis Park Has Ties to a Pirate, a Forgotten American Holiday and a Chart-Topping SongIts interesting that the Treaty of Versailles would not have allowed them to keep New Orleans even had they won. A Park Ranger at Chalmette once told me that the British force engaged at Chalmette had also sailed with two colony ships laden with women, children, and supplies - the ...
03/04/2009 - 11:43pmHouse Committee Studies Proposal To Expand Saguaro National Park By 975 AcresOne of the amazing experiences at this Park is to stand on the mountain and be able to almost literally trace the Park boundary with your eyes, solely based on the lines of vegetation. This Park is being quickly surrounded by urban development, and is already becoming something of an ...
02/27/2009 - 7:01amAbout That Stimulus Package for the National Parks: Nothing Worthwhile Is Easily AttainedI've reflected on this a little more, and realized that the other possible storyline here (i.e. other than the possible storyline about the limits of the NPS to absorb and manage additional spending) is what a phenomenal missed opportunity this was for the Parks. The last time this country faced ...
02/26/2009 - 11:22pmAbout That Stimulus Package for the National Parks: Nothing Worthwhile Is Easily AttainedI've wondered previously, why other National priorities like education and transportation received much bigger allotments in the stimulus package than National Parks - but the fact that it is going to take the National Park Service and Department of the Interior four months just to figure out where to start ...
02/26/2009 - 6:47amBryce Canyon National Park: This Small Corner of Utah Packs a Colorful PunchMany National Parks have some sort of statistic about how some large XX percent of visitors stick to paved roads, walkways, and boardwalks. At first, as an avid hiker, I was fairly aghast at those numbers. However, I've since more or less made my peace with them. Consider, for example, ...
02/19/2009 - 6:27amNPCA Applauds National Park System's Cut of Stimulus Package, But Says Much Remains to DoI've been thinking a little bit more about the incongruity of this statement, and I can't help but wonder what the reaction might have been if this underfunding had come out of a Republican Congress and Republican Administration? I know that the NPCA is officially "nonpartisan", and I don't want ...
02/15/2009 - 8:26amNational Park Service Revenues Down $1.3 Million On Transition to America The Beautiful PassThe post above is spot on - the appropriate comparison is not ATB Pass revenues vs. National Parks Pass revenues, its total revenues vs. total revenues. I think many people could make the argument that the National Parks Pass was under-priced at the level of visits to just two premiere ...
02/14/2009 - 3:10pmAre We Properly Caring for Our Ocean-Based National Parks?First, let me note that protection of marine resources has historically been substantially undervalued. Nevertheless, I have a couple quibbles with the above article. For one, the 99.9% figure includes both commercial and recreational fishing. It would probably be more appropriate to note the percent of US waters that are ...
02/14/2009 - 2:01pmNPCA Applauds National Park System's Cut of Stimulus Package, But Says Much Remains to DoIt would be really interesting to understand what some of the primary motivations among the various Congresspersons and their staffers were for the NPS getting the lower figure. Some questions that would be worth investigating - did some of the Senators questions whether the NPS had sufficient support staff in ...
02/14/2009 - 1:12pmNew Lodge Gives You an Opportunity to Better Know Kenai Fjords National ParkThis is great news. I'm not sure how many Lodges have been built recently in National Parks, but it doesn't seem like many. This Lodge sounds like it should really benefit visitors to this relatively unknown gem of a National Park.
02/14/2009 - 11:43amNPCA, Congressman Issa Battle Over Propriety of Stimulus Funding for National ParksIt seems pretty clear that Mr. Obey has taken several steps to recuse himself from lobbying his Dad. Nevertheless, in Washington perception is all too often reality. At the end of the day, one of the NPCA's topmost priorities is to lobby for increased appropriations, and it will certainly be ...
02/14/2009 - 11:29amIf Science in Lake Clark National Park Is Good, Is It Also Good in Yellowstone National Park?Another interesting question is where science should rank in the National Park Service's mission. The NPS already has two priorities: preservation and visitation, should scientific inquiry also be in the mix? Or should scientific inquiry primarily be handled by a combination of other Federal agencies, such as the US Geological ...
02/14/2009 - 7:47amThe World's Top Ten National ParksI definitely have to second the nominations Macchu Picchu, Gros Morne National Park, and Iguazu Falls National Park. Gros Morne has spectacular fjords, and is also one of the only places on Earth where rocks from the Earth's mantle are exposed at the surface. Even if you don't appreciate the ...
02/14/2009 - 7:10amTwo Rangers Have a Narrow Escape with an Avalanche in AlaskaIts also interesting to note that a road trip from Skagway to Anchorage is some 812 miles (nearly 16 hours) and requires travelling through Canada to get around massive Wrangell-St. Elias National Park. That's quite a drive for a training session, let alone for shopping!
01/27/2009 - 6:38amThe Future of the "Gateway Arch" is On the Table—Will You be Part of the Discussion?Whenever the Gateway Arch is mentioned on Traveler, I'm always disheartened when comments come out advocating its delisting. To me, the Gateway Arch is one of America's most-precious landmarks and is one of the crown jewels of the National Park System, along with the National Mall, the Statue of Liberty, ...
01/26/2009 - 7:18pmChange.gov and the National Park System Under the Obama AdministrationThere are actually quite a few "model farms" in the National Park System, in addition to Cuyahoga Valley, there are also farms at Grant-Kohrs Ranch, Lincoln Boyhood, the LBJ Ranch, Piscataway Park, Oxon Cove Park, and the Claude Moore Colonial Farm on the GW Parkway.
01/26/2009 - 7:12pmIt's Not Too Early To Start Planning This Summer's National Park VacationIt seems like a real shame that so many National Park lodging options are either very expensive, or else so hard to come by that you must book them 7-8 or more months in advance. To me, this suggests that there really aren't enough National Park Lodges available. Does anyone ...
01/10/2009 - 9:33pmNational Park System Would Gain Official Wilderness Under Omnibus Lands BillIt will be interesting if the Omnibus Public Lands Act doesn't pass today - but the bean counters must be pretty confident, as Senator (and Vice-President-Elect) Joe Biden is apparently off to Asia today, according to the Associated Press - although apparently at least three Senators canceled plans to join ...
01/08/2009 - 6:44amNational Park System Would Gain Official Wilderness Under Omnibus Lands BillRandom Walker - Thanks for the link, I stand correct on that point. In practice, though, even decisions on signage seem to be made on a case-by-case basis, and there certainly are a number of wilderness areas where trailhead signage is only placed at the wilderness area boundary, but further ...
01/07/2009 - 8:30pmNational Park System Would Gain Official Wilderness Under Omnibus Lands BillPaul - If you've ever visited a Park that is largely wilderness, like North Cascades, and compared it to the experience of say visiting Yosemite Valley or the developed areas of Yellowstone, I think you would quickly see the difference. Wilderness designations involve making a tradeoff in favor leaving a ...
01/07/2009 - 8:18pmNational Park System Would Gain Official Wilderness Under Omnibus Lands BillPreoccupation with the economic crisis certainly played a role, but it was still somewhat surprising that Congress failed to pass its now seemingly standard end-of-session omnibus public lands bill. Even with the economic crisis, this probably would have still have passed but for the objections of Senator Coburn of Oklahoma. ...
01/06/2009 - 8:41pmThis Park Combines Scenery and History on a Desert IslandBut going back to the original question, a "dry island' is one without a source of fresh water, and a "desert island" would be one without rainfall, I imagine. Thus, the right term would seem to be "deserted island!"
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