Press Statement : Bill Wade Regarding Management Policy Rewrite

STATEMENT OF

BILL WADE

AUGUST 26, 2005

GOOD AFTERNOON OR GOOD MORNING … DEPENDING ON WHERE YOU ARE JOINING US FROM TODAY.

ON BEHALF OF THE 410 MEMBERS OF THE COALITION OF NATIONAL PARK SERVICE RETIREES … WHO TOGETHER REPRESENT MORE THAN 12,000 YEARS OF COLLECTIVE PARK MANAGEMENT EXPERIENCE … THANK YOU FOR JOINING US TODAY …

AS YOU JUST HEARD … MY NAME IS Bill Wade … I SERVE AS Chairman OF THE EXECUTIVE COUNCIL OF THE COALITION … and i am VERY PROUD of the fact that i also am A FORMER superintendent of the Shenandoah National Park. I ALSO SERVED in the national park service AT GRAND CANYON AND GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS NATIONAL PARKS AND FIVE OTHER NPS AREAS.

THE COALITION IS HOLDING THIS NEWS EVENT TODAY TO MAKE PUBLIC A SECRET REWRITE OF THE NATIONAL PARK SERVICE RULES THAT WOULD DESTROY THE CURRENT Mission of Keeping OUR 388 Parks AND OTHER FACILITIES Unimpaired for Future Generations.

I AM GOING TO SKETCH IN OUR BIG PICTURE CONCERNS HERE AND THEN TURN THINGS OVER TO JERRY ROGERS WHO WILL OUTLINE our specific concerns about HOW THESE REWRITTEN CONCERNS WOULD WORK IN PROGRESS … WE THEN will TAKE YOUR QUESTIONS.

WHAT WE ARE CONCERNED ABOUT IS …

An ongoing and secret Interior Department attempt to rewrite and override 90 years of laws, rules and court rulings governing THE NATIONAL PARK SYSTEM … THE PROPOSED CHANGES WOULD “hijack” AMERICA’S national parks, leaving them wide open for what are now barred uses … and making it extremely unlikely that the sites would survive as unspoiled treasures for future generations of Americans.

AS YOU MAY KNOW THIS NEWS EVENT IS TAKING PLACE IMMEDIATELY PRIOR to the White House conference on the environment to be held August 28-31, 2005 in St. Louis, MISSOURI.

TODAY, THE COALITION OF NATIONAL PARK SERVICE RETIREES IS LEAKING the redlined draft of the Interior Department’s radical rewrite of the “rulebook” for the National Park Service. YOU CAN FIND IT – AND RELATED DOCUMENTS ON OUR WEB SITE – AT W-W-W-DOT-NPSRETIREES-DOT-ORG … AGAIN, that’s W-W-W-DOT-NPSRETIREES-DOT-ORG … WE HAVE ALSO LEAKED THIS DOCUMENT TO MANY PARK SUPERINTENDENTS, THE FIELD IMPLEMENTERS OF POLICY – SINCE THE POLITICAL LEADERS OF THE DEPARTMENT AND THE NPS HAVE KEPT IT SECRET FROM THEM ALSO.

THESE DRAFT CHANGES HAVE BEEN SPEARHEADED BY A BUSH ADMINISTRATION POLITICAL APPOINTEE WITH NO PARK EXPERIENCE … THIS INDIVIDUAL WAS the former head of the Cody, WY, Chamber of Commerce …

AND THESE hundreds of proposed changes to NPS procedures have been drawn up with no input by Congress, the public or the superintendents of national parks.

Although this previously undisclosed Interior Department document is OBVIOUSLY a work in progress that will continue to change … it is considered by NPS insiders, Coalition members and other concerned parties to be an accurate and extremely revealing expression of the true intentions of the political appointees now running the U.S. Department of Interior.

Under the proposed rules …

· the use of snowmobiles would be radically expanded INTO MANY PARKS from currently limited levels at such sites as Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks.

· In dozens of national parks and seashore areas, the use of jet skis, Off-road vehicles, dirt bikes and other mechanized vehicles would be permitted on a virtually unrestricted basis.

· At Gettysburg National Military Park the rules would permit the rebuilding of an obtrusive observation tower that recently was removed with broad public support.

· At Great Smoky Mountain National Park and dozens of other parks, the rules would permit huge increases in the number of noisy overflights that destroy the natural peace and quiet.

· Britney Spears could hold a major concert at Shiloh National Military Park or nearly any national park since the new rules significantly increase the emphasis on permitting public uses over the traditional mission of preserving historic and natural places.

· At Shenandoah National Park, polluters would get a seat at the table to decide how much they should be allowed to impair the air quality and views at the park.

· Rather than working with park visitors to minimize the problems posed by improper food storage and other temptations, rangers would be forced to kill bears at Yellowstone if they damaged private property.

coalition experts and other concerned groups are still weighing the likely impacts of the hundreds of proposed changes in the Interior Department draft … but it already is clear that all or most of the 388 sites in America’s National Park System would suffer major and possibly irreversible damage under the rule changes.

The Coalition of National Park Service Retirees opposes this astonishing attempt to hijack the management of the 388 areas of our nation’s park system and convert them into vastly diminished areas where almost anything goes.

Until recently, both political parties have viewed the management of our parks as ‘off limits area’ where partisan politics are set aside and decisions are made based on what is truly in the public’s interest.

These draft policies shatter that precedent in favor of smash-and-grab politics that would weaken the preservation and protection of the areas that previous generations have added to the system.

We should not trash the proud national park legacy that has been handed down to us by our parents and grandparents.

now … i know that the interior department already is trying to dance away from this …

so, let me say this … if the national park service or Interior Department tells you that this rewrite of the rules is no longer on the table and that it doesn’t really reflect what they want to do, my advice is simple: Don’t believe a word of it.

Say whatever else you want about it … but this is an incredibly honest document that exposes the true agenda of the people running the Interior Department. Making a few cosmetic changes and pretending to walk away from this draft, won’t change a thing. This document is the game plan and they aren’t really going to move off what, in fact, is their true agenda.

i want to close with a historical footnote that some of you know about …

Today’s document release is the second major "leak" by the coalition over the last two years of an internal document detailing plans to undercut America's national parks.

On March 17, 2004, CNPSR exposed internal NPS memos directing park superintendents to slash summer 2004 park services and then to mislead the news media and public about the cuts, which were to be referred (and only if necessary) as "service level adjustments." The ensuing public uproar led to a widely publicized March 24, 2004 hearing by the House Appropriations Subcommittee of the U.S. House of Representatives.

when we released those secret memos … the nps p-r machine went into overdrive. first, they denied that they were the real thing … then they said they were out of date … and, finally, they had to admit they were the real deal. we are seeing the same thing with the today’s leak …

i have no doubt that you wilsee that same process of denial and eventual recognition of reality here ...

THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION. I LOOK FORWARD TO THE QUESTION AND ANSWER PERIOD.