Coalition of National Park Service Retirees - Media Release

CNPSR Welcomes Rick Smith As New Chair of the Executive Council

Maria Abonnel — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 21:09:09 -0600

After serving as the chair of the Executive Council of CNPSR since its inception, J.W. (Bill) Wade has taken a post overseas. He will remain active in his role as Founding Director, with full voting rights.

Richard B. (Rick) Smith retired from the National Park Service after 31 years. During his career, he worked as a ranger, a mid-level supervisor, and a senior manager. He accepted assignments in Yellowstone, Yosemite, the Albright Training Center in Grand Canyon, the Washington Office, Everglades, the Mid-Atlantic Regional Office, Carlsbad Caverns and Guadalupe Mountains, and the Southwest Region. Prior to joining the National Park Service, Rick taught in the public school system and was a Peace Corps Volunteer in the National University, Asuncion, Paraguay. Rick earned his B.A. degree in History at Albion College, Michigan. He also holds an M.A. in English Language and Literature from Michigan State University.

Upon his retirement, Rick became a conservation consultant, working primarily in Latin America because of his Spanish language skills. He has worked extensively in Central and South America with government management officials and public non-profit groups that have an interest in the management of Latin American protected area systems. Much of his work has been focused on improving the knowledge, skills, and abilities of park rangers in this part of the world.

Rick has been very active with CNPSR. Among many other things, he manages a subscription service by which participants can receive daily feeds of news media stories about the National Park Service.

Rick's term expires December 31, 2012. He may be contacted at .

About CNPSR

The 730+ members of the Coalition of National Park Service Retirees are all former employees of the National Park Service with a combined 19,000 years of stewardship of Americaâ€™ most significant natural and cultural resources. In their personal lives, CNPSR members reflect the broad spectrum of political affiliations. CNPSR members now strive to apply their experience, credibility and integrity as they speak out for national park and program solutions that uphold law and apply the results of sound scientific research. They also support the mission of the National Park Service through public education. The Coalition counts among its members: former National Park Service directors and deputy directors, regional directors, superintendents, rangers and other career professionals who devoted an average of nearly 30 years each to protecting and interpreting Americaâ€™s national parks on behalf of the public. For more information, visit the CNPSR Web site at http://www.npsretirees.org.

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AMERICA’S NATIONAL PARKS ARE LIKELY TO SEE MORE GUNS

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 18:47:57 -0600

Coalition of National Park Service Retirees Highlight 11 Parks – Including Yellowstone, the Grand Canyon and Wolf Trap in DC Area -- as Examples of What Visitors Might Encounter.

TUCSON, AZ.//February 9, 2010// Assault rifles on Mather Point overlooking the Grand Canyon? Handguns on the Filene Center concert lawn at Wolf Trap in the Washington, D.C. suburbs? Shotguns at Lamar River Valley in the backcountry at Yellowstone National Park, the world’s first national park?

These are just some of the things that Americans can reasonably expect to see in national parks across the U.S. as of February 22, 2010, when a dangerous new gun law will go into effect in our nation’s national park areas. To mark this unfortunate development, the Coalition of National Park Service Retirees (CNPSR) is highlighting what visitors may soon experience in 11 representative national parks.

An amendment to the Credit Cardholders’ Bill of Rights Act of 2009, authored by Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK), and promoted by the NRA, passed by the Congress and signed into law by the President on May 22 of last year, permits park visitors to possess firearms in national park areas consistent with the laws of the state in which the area is located. This is a significant departure from long-established, common-sense gun regulations that allowed visitors to possess guns in parks only if they were stowed out of reach and unloaded.

Doug Morris, a member of the CNPSR Executive Council and a former law enforcement ranger and park superintendent in the NPS for many years, said: “We believe that the public should be aware of the consequences of Coburn’s amendment. While federal law prohibits the carrying of guns in any federal building where federal employees work on a regular basis, in many states there are few, if any, other prohibitions.”

While scores of national parks will be impacted to one extent or another, CNPSR highlighted the following 11 parks to show the range of likely harms:

Yellowstone National Park (WY, MT, ID): In the world’s first national park - Yellowstone, while watching Old Faithful erupt you could be in the company of other park visitors wearing holsters and hand guns. In the evening campfire circle, you may sit next to someone who can legally carry a shotgun or rifle to that special place. Anyone hiking in the backcountry can openly carry guns, increasing the risk to other hikers and park wildlife.

Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts (VA): Virginia’s gun laws are very permissive. The grounds of Wolf Trap, including the “lawn seating area,” will be open to people carrying firearms.

Grand Canyon National Park (AZ): Arizona’s gun laws are very permissive and while standing on Mather Point, enjoying the breathtaking view of the canyon, you could see another visitor with an assault rifle slung on his shoulder. At your campsite in the park’s campground, you could see guns prominently displayed in the campsite next to you.

Mesa Verde National Park (CO): Colorado law is very permissive about open carry of firearms except in some cities. During your visit to Cliff Palace, you could be listening to the ranger’s interpretive discussion while standing next to someone with a handgun and holster prominently displayed.

Gettysburg National Military Battlefield (PA): Pennsylvania is also a very permissive state relative to gun laws. During your tour of the battlefield, you could encounter other visitors legally carrying rifles – and not the historic kind.

Carlsbad Caverns National Park (NM): At the evening bat flight program and even on the cave tours, you could be joined by others openly carrying firearms. As you wander through the park’s restaurant and gift store, looking for a bite to eat or a souvenir to buy, other visitors might be seen legally carrying firearms.

Everglades National Park (FL): Florida’s gun laws are more restrictive, so you are not likely to encounter others openly carrying guns while walking on the Anhinga Trail as you enjoy some of the most spectacular wildlife and bird sighting anywhere.

Statue of Liberty National Monument (NY): New York’s gun laws are very restrictive, and visitors to the Statue are protected by laws prohibiting the open carrying of firearms.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park (TN and NC): This park is an example of one of the problems visitors will face with the new law. In North Carolina, there are few gun restrictions and visitors could be seen openly carrying guns. However, if you happen to be a gun-carrying visitor, you will need a “carry permit” when you cross into the part of the park located in Tennessee.

Mount Rainier National Park (WA): While hiking the famous “Wonderland Trail” you could encounter other hikers openly carrying handguns, rifles or shotguns.

Denali National Park and Preserve (AK): While riding on an NPS-licensed bus operated by the park concessioner on a day-long trip on the “park road” (the only way to get into the heart of the park other than to hike) you could be sitting next to someone with a handgun in a holster.

Bill Wade, chair of CNPSR’s Executive Council and former superintendent of Shenandoah National Park said, “This is a sad chapter in the history of America’s premier system of heritage areas. On the heels of the Ken Burns documentary about the importance of national parks to America and after a year of increased visitation to parks despite a poor economy, this law will have a chilling effect on how visitors behave in national parks. A feeling of safety and security will be replaced by wariness and suspicion. This diminishes some of the “specialness and reverence” our citizens have long accorded to their national parks.”

While many states, and therefore the national park areas in them, will soon allow individuals to openly carry firearms, most states are much more restrictive about concealed-carry, and most require a permit to do so. Visitors with a permit from one state may or may not be able to carry a concealed gun into a national park in another state, depending on reciprocity agreements. Similarly, visitors who have “long guns” in vehicle racks traveling from a park in one state to a park in another state will have to understand the differing state requirements.

Members of CNPSR strongly opposed this new law for several reasons:

1) More guns in national parks increase the likelihood of shooting at wildlife and some historic resources, such as prehistoric petroglyphs.

2) More guns in parks increases the risk to rangers.

3) More guns in parks increases the risk to visitors in places like campgrounds where disagreements, often fueled by alcohol, sometimes occur.

4) National parks have always been hospitable to visitors from around the world and are seen as “sanctuaries” where people could get away from the routines, threats and risks they face in their daily lives. But more guns will change those perceptions.

5) Until now, one regulation pertaining to firearms applied to all 392 areas in the National Park System. But now each of those areas will be subject to the laws of the state in which it lies. This is likely to lead to significant confusion by visitors traveling though parks in a number of states.

6) Federal buildings in parks will now have to be signed to prohibit firearms and conceivably security devices will need to be used.

ABOUT CNPSR

The more than 740 members of the Coalition of National Park Service Retirees are all former employees of the National Park Service with a combined over 22,000 years of stewardship of America’ most precious natural and cultural resources. In their personal lives, CNPSR members reflect the broad spectrum of political affiliations. CNPSR members now strive to apply their credibility and integrity as they speak out for national park solutions that uphold law and apply sound science. The Coalition counts among its members: former National Park Service directors and deputy directors, regional directors, superintendents, rangers and other career professionals who devoted an average of nearly 30 years each to protecting and interpreting America’s national parks on behalf of the public.

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Climate Change Poses Grave Threat to U.S. National Parks

Maria Abonnel — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 12:30:49 -0500

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Michael Oko, NRDC, 202-513-6245

New Report Identifies Top Threats and Recommendations to Protect Parks

11 Climate-Related Dangers in Parks in AK, AZ, CA, CO, FL, ID, IN, MD, MT, NJ, NY, ME, NV, NM, NC, ND, TN, TX, UT, VA, WA, and WY.

Editor’s note: Video is available at: http://www.vimeo.com/nrdcbroadcast/videos

Denver and New York (October 1, 2009)—Climate change from human activity is the leading threat to wildlife, plants, water and ice in 25 of America’s national parks, according to a new report by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and Rocky Mountain Climate Organization (RMCO).

The report, National Parks in Peril, comes on the heels of the introduction of clean energy and climate legislation in the U.S. Senate, as well as Ken Burns’ national parks series on PBS, which has put parks in the center of America’s national conscience.

“As a country, we need to ensure that our parks have a future that is as promising as their past,” said Theo Spencer, senior advocate for the Climate Center at the Natural Resources Defense Council. “Clean energy legislation is now moving in Congress that would help preserve our national treasures, while creating more jobs, economic growth and national security.”

The report outlines climate-related threats in 25 parks spanning 22 states. The top risks include: loss of snow and water, rising seas, more extreme weather, loss of plants and wildlife, and more pollution.

“Climate disruption is the greatest threat ever to our national parks. We could lose entire national parks for the first time, as Everglades, Ellis Island, and other parks could be submerged by rising seas,” said Stephen Saunders, president of the Rocky Mountain Climate Organization and the report’s principal author. “To preserve our parks, we need to reduce the heat-trapping gases that are threatening them, and begin managing the parks to protect resources at risk.”

Remedies, which are outlined in the report, include enacting comprehensive clean energy legislation, including reducing carbon pollution by at least 20 percent below current levels by 2020; increasing investment in energy efficiency; and accelerating the development of clean energy technologies. The National Parks Service also needs to prioritize this issue by enacting policies to mitigate the impacts of global warming; and should have more funding for research and to reduce the effects of climate change.

Bill Wade, chair of the executive council of the Coalition of National Park Service Retirees (CNPSR) and former superintendent of Shenandoah National Park in Virginia, said: “National parks are often referred to as the ‘canaries in the mine shafts’ when it comes to climate change. By their very characteristics and locations, impacts and effects of climate change are noticed in national parks first and are a forewarning about what will happen elsewhere. That’s why this report is particularly important.”

For the full report, including the list of the National Parks, go to: www.rockymountainclimate.org

The report and more information about national parks and global warming is also at: http://www.nrdc.org/land/parksinperil/

The Natural Resources Defense Council is a national, nonprofit organization of scientists, lawyers and environmental specialists dedicated to protecting public health and the environment. Founded in 1970, NRDC has 1.3 million members and online activists, served from offices in New York, Washington, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Beijing.

The Rocky Mountain Climate Organization (www.rockymountainclimate.org) is a Colorado-based coalition that works to reduce climate disruption and its effects.

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New Release of Preserving Nature

Maria Abonnel — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 11:49:00 -0500

Dr. Richard West Sellars, who worked as a historian in the National Park Service for thirty five years before his retirement, undertook the Herculean task of synthesizing the various threads that comprise the history of natural resource management in the National Park Service. The result was his book Preserving Nature in the National Parks. After publication of this groundbreaking history, the book received an Eastern National Author's Award. A new version with an updated preface and epilogue brings the history up through recent / current presidential administrations. This new version is available at www.yalebooks.com, Barnes and Noble, Amazon, and Borders.

A Santa Fe, New Mexico native, Dr. Sellars was awarded the CNPSR George Hartzog, Jr., award in 2008, primarily for his invaluable and thoughtful work on this book.

An extended excerpt from the Epilogue follows:

"Surely very few human institutions have survived for more than a millennium or two. Taking a long view, the National Park Service was created only in 1916, with its mandate to leave the parks “unimpaired,” which suggests in perpetuity: ageless and everlasting But over almost a century since the Service was created, its natural resource management seems usually not to have been thought of in truly far-reaching time spans. Rather, resource concerns and initiatives seem to have been broken into various short, overlapping, truncated blocks of time: a presidential administration, a new Congress, the tenure of a director or a secretary of the interior, the tenure of particularly influential regional directors or superintendents who come and go, as well as the lifespan of the Services official management policy documents. All of these are of course driven by different and sometimes conflicting individual or collective perspectives on what is appropriate regarding park preservation and its managerial counterpart, public use. For carefully and knowingly tending invaluable, irreplaceable ecological systems in the national parks, such shortsightedness is not a good thing. "[In] over almost a century since the Service was created, its natural resource management seems usually not to have been thought of in truly far-reaching time spans. Rather, resource concerns ad initiatives seem to have been broken into various short, overlapping, truncated blocks of time: a presidential administration, a new Congress, the tenure of a director or a secretary of the interior, the tenure of particularly influential regional directors or superintendents who come and go, as well as the lifespan of the Service's official management policy documents. All of these are of course driven by different and sometimes conflicting individual or collective perspectives on what is appropriate regarding park preservation and its managerial counterpart, public use. For carefully and knowingly tending invaluable, irreplaceable ecological systems in the national parks, such shortsightedness is not a good thing."

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NATIONAL PARKS AND ECONOMIC RECOVERY: PARK VETERANS IDENTIFY 6 HIGHLIGHTS OF THE CIVILIAN CONSERVATION CORPS (CCC)

Cheryl Houghtelin — Sat, 02 May 2009 18:14:39 -0500

TUCSON, AZ. – May 4, 2009 – As the U.S. Department of Interior finalizes its plans to spend $750 million as as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, the 715-member Coalition of National Park Service Retirees (CNPSR) is urging Americans to honor the memory of the original U.S. parks economic stimulus and jobs program: the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and its predecessor programs.

Rick Smith, former superintendent of Carlsbad Caverns and a CNPSR member said: “Since many of today’s park projects will put the unemployed and young Americans back to work, the Coalition of National Park Service Retirees believes it is fitting to pause for a moment to remember the last great citizen effort to preserve and protect the National Park System: the Civilian Conservation Corps, and its predecessors, the Emergency Conservation Work (ECW) and the National Park Service Work Camps (NPSWC).” Smith noted that it wasn’t until 1937 that all of these park-related projects were bundled together under the CCC title.

Becky Mills, who is a member of the Executive Council with the Coalition and former superintendent of Great Basin National Park, said: “In the 1930s and 1940s, scores of national park areas were improved by the work of the CCC enrollees. Now, the Recovery Act will generate a new legacy of projects that will help to preserve and protect America’s national parks. If, as some scholars have declared, the national park idea is our nation’s greatest contribution to world culture, we are showing once again as a nation that we believe that our national parks deserve our upmost care. That’s what the National Park Service’s share of the stimulus package is all about.”

Under the current stimulus bills, park-specific projects range from replacing the Visitor Center at Dinosaur National Monument in Utah to renovating the 352-foot monument that commemorates Oliver Hazard Perry's naval victory during the War of 1812 at Perry's Victory and International and Peace Memorial in Ohio. Other projects include preparing for the removal of the Elwha Dam and restoration of the Elwha River basin at Olympic National Park in Washington, replacing more than five miles of water lines at Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado, rehabilitating the Independence Hall Tower at Independence National Historical Park in Pennsylvania, and repairing the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in the nation’s capital.

In looking back at the rich legacy of the CCC and its predecessor jobs programs, the Coalition pointed to these as examples of their major achievements:

• Bandelier National Monument, New Mexico. The work completed in Frijoles Canyon, the most-visited site in the monument, consists of a series of buildings that are remarkably sensitive to landscape and culture, are of very high quality, and are still in use. Between 1934 and 1941, enrollees worked out of a camp in the Canyon. They built the current road that descends into Frijoles Canyon, the visitor center, a new lodge and miles of trails. While contemporary visitors may visit Bandelier to understand the Pueblo Indian cultures that inhabited what is now the monument, they also have a chance to admire one of the most significant contributions made by the CCC to our parks.

• Prince William Forest, Virginia. The park is a left-over product of the Depression - one of the two Recreation Demonstration Areas (along with Catoctin Mountain Park (Camp David) that were retained by NPS after most were turned over to the states and local governments after the Depression era. Most of Prince William was built by the CCC, including the Cabin Camps that remain in use today. Also the park's maintenance facility is one of the CCC base camps and housing units. Some have suggested that this area be re-designated as a park to represent the history and significance of the CCC.

• Sitka National Historical Park, Alaska. The park’s famous totem poles did not stand along the park’s wooded trails until 1906. Between 1901 and 1903, several Native leaders from villages in southeast Alaska agreed to donate poles to Alaska’s District Governor John G. Brady for the people of Alaska. After exhibiting the poles at the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair and the 1905 Lewis and Clark Exposition, Governor Brady sent the poles to Sitka where they were erected in the “government park.” The CCC employed Native carvers/craftsmen in the late 1930s to repair and re-carve (they replicated four) several of the original totem poles that had been at the 1904 and 1905 Expositions in St. Louis and Portland. The poles had sustained damage and deterioration while traveling south and after being placed at Sitka National Monument, later re-designated as a historical park, the NPS began a totem pole preservation program. These CCC-era poles still stand in Sitka today.

• Richmond National Battlefield Park, Virginia. The CCC was segregated in the south and Richmond NBP was home to what was called a "colored camp” in the 1930s. Activities included clearing Fort Harrison of brush, grading and paving Battlefield Park Road, and some interpretive services at Cold Harbor. CCC workers built their own camp, including a water tower that had to be relocated when soil beneath it began to settle, and their own quarters. They had a photography studio in camp and took courses of their own choosing as well as worked towards high school diplomas.

• Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona. Painted Desert Inn, a National Historic Landmark within Petrified Forest National Park, opened May 24, 2006 after 18 months of much needed rehabilitation. From 1935-1940, CCC workers put in the original electric wires, plumbing, and a heating system. Sleeping rooms, a new entryway, restrooms, a dining room and a shaded porch were built as additions to the original structure. Construction took three years, employing hundreds of young men. From the hard work of stuccoing the exterior to the delicate artwork creating panels of stained glass hammered-tin chandeliers, the Painted Desert Inn remains a monument to the work of the CCC.

• Old Santa Fe Trail Building, New Mexico. The Old Santa Fe Trail Building, located in Santa Fe, New Mexico, once served as the headquarters for the former Southwest Region of the National Park Service. The building was lovingly constructed between 1937 and 1939 by the boys of the Civilian Conservation Corps, with furnishings, artwork and engineering features provided by the men and women of the Work Projects Administration. National Park Service architect Cecil Doty, taking counsel from John Gaw Meem, designed not only a magnificent Southwestern Spanish-Pueblo Revival-style masterpiece, but also designed furniture that was made in the building, for the building, and envisioned paintings and other works of art specifically for the building. Numerous works of art were acquired under the WPA Arts Program specifically to go in the building.

ABOUT CNPSR

The nearly 720 members of the Coalition of National Park Service Retirees are all former employees of the National Park Service with a combined 21,500 years of stewardship of America’ most precious natural and cultural resources. In their personal lives, CNPSR members reflect the broad spectrum of political affiliations. CNPSR members now strive to apply their credibility and integrity as they speak out for national park solutions that uphold law and apply sound science. The Coalition counts among its members: former national park directors and deputy directors, regional directors, superintendents, rangers and other career professionals who devoted an average of nearly 30 years each to protecting and interpreting America’s national parks on behalf of the public. For more information, visit the CNPSR Web site at http://www.npsretirees.org.

CONTACT: Patrick Mitchell, (703) 276-3266 or .

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CONGRESSMAN RAÚL GRIJALVA NAMED 2008 GEORGE B. HARTZOG JR. AWARD WINNER BY U.S. NATIONAL PARK SERVICE RETIREES

billw — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 09:38:12 -0500

CONGRESSMAN RAÚL GRIJALVA NAMED 2008 GEORGE B. HARTZOG JR. AWARD WINNER BY U.S. NATIONAL PARK SERVICE RETIREES

Arizona Congressman Cited for Significant Contributions to the Protection of the National Park System During Bush Administration Assaults on Public Lands

TUCSON, AZ. – March 21, 2009 – During a small ceremony in Washington D.C. on March 19, the Chairman of the Coalition of National Park Service Retirees, Bill Wade, presented Representative Raúl Grijalva with the Coalition’s George B. Hartzog Jr. award. The award is presented annually to the individual or individuals who demonstrate outstanding support for the mission of the National Park Service and/or the National Park System. The citation accompanying the plaque presented to Representative Grijalva read:

Representative Raúl Grijalva is a tireless supporter of the parks and programs of the National Park System. As the Chair of the House Subcommittee for National Parks, Forests and Public Lands, he has been instrumental in protecting parks from the politically-inspired moves of the Bush Administration. In a letter to Secretary Kempthorne, he objected strongly to the new concealed carry rule that went into effect on December 10th. He was instrumental in the Congressional action that withdrew lands around Grand Canyon from uranium mining. Perhaps most importantly, he published a scathing report on the failures of the Bush administration in relation to national parks and other public lands. The report, A Report on the Bush Administration Assaults on our National Parks, Forests and Public Lands, gave much-needed publicity to the Bush Administration’s failures to promote the preservation and protection of our National Park System, the Wildlife Refuge System and the lands administered by the Bureau of Land Management and the United States Forest Service.

Wade said, “Congressman Grijalva is carrying on in the footsteps of one of his predecessors, Mo Udall, also from Arizona, in effectively chairing the House Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands. He has become a very positive force in assuring that the National Park System is protected from those who would diminish its values to the American public.”

The Coalition’s award is named after George B. Hartzog Jr., the seventh Director of the National Park Service. Hartzog was widely respected for his innovative approach to expanding the National Park System into the urban areas of our country and for his zeal in protecting the parks of the System. Hartzog passed away in 2008.

ABOUT CNPSR

The more than 700 members of the Coalition of National Park Service Retirees are all former employees of the National Park Service with a combined 21,000 years of stewardship of America’ most precious natural and cultural resources. In their personal lives, CNPSR members reflect the broad spectrum of political affiliations. CNPSR members now strive to apply their credibility and integrity as they speak out for national park solutions that uphold law and apply sound science. The Coalition counts among its members: former national park directors and deputy directors, regional directors, superintendents, rangers and other career professionals who devoted an average of nearly 30 years each to protecting and interpreting America’s national parks on behalf of the public. For more information, visit the CNPSR Web site at http://www.npsretirees.org

CONTACT: Bill Wade at 520-444-3973 or .

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RANGER ORGANIZATIONS PRAISE COURT RULING THAT REINSTATES REASONABLE FIREARMS RULE FOR NATIONAL PARKS

billw — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 20:17:25 -0500

NOTE: The court's ruling can be viewed in the attached .pdf file.

RANGER ORGANIZATIONS PRAISE COURT RULING THAT REINSTATES REASONABLE FIREARMS RULE FOR NATIONAL PARKS

Washington, D.C. (March 20, 2009) - Several national park ranger organizations today praised the ruling by the U.S. District Court that made a preliminary finding that suspends the Bush Administration’s Department of the Interior (DOI) regulation that authorized loaded, concealed firearms in national parks.

“The members of the Coalition are delighted that the court has granted the injunction. We have said from the beginning of the rule making process that the DOI was proposing a solution for a problem that did not exist. The previous rule governing weapons in our national parks and wildlife refuges worked well; the Department presented no evidence during its rule making that a change was needed,” said Bill Wade, chair of the executive council of the Coalition of National Park Service Retirees (CNPSR) and former superintendent of Shenandoah National Park in Virginia. CNPSR has over 690 members, all former National Park Service employees, with over 20,500 accumulated years of experience in managing national parks and Park Service programs, including law enforcement and visitor services.

In her ruling, Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia issued an injunction against enforcement of a Department of Interior rule that allowed loaded and concealed firearms in national parks, and said that the defendants’ process was "astoundingly flawed” and "ignored substantial information in the administrative record concerning environmental impacts."

“This regulation seemed rushed and written in such a way that a clear interpretation could not be made because its parameters left it ambiguous. No obvious attempt seemed to have been made to honor the National Environmental Policy Act by the Agency which Congress holds responsible to be the guardians of our national parks,” said John Waterman, president of the United States Park Ranger Lodge of the Fraternal Order of Police, which is the largest organization of U.S.
Park Rangers in the country.

“We have always viewed this case through the prism of what is best for the preservation and management of National Park System resources, including wildlife, and historic monuments, petroglyphs, and park signs and markers that could have been harmed by vandalistic shooting,” said Scot McElveen, a retired chief park ranger and president of the Association of National Park Rangers (ANPR). ANPR has a membership of 1,000 current and former Park Service employees. “Many ANPR members are both park supporters and gun owners, and we advocate for firearms’
regulations in parks that respect both individual rights and the statutory purpose that Congress created parks for,” McElveen added.

Under intense political pressure from the National Rifle Association, the Bush Administration rewrote reasonable Reagan-era regulations that had allowed firearms in national parks as long as they were unloaded and properly stowed. The revised regulation, finalized in January 2009 and now suspended by the court, mandated that national parks allow loaded and concealed firearms.

Department of the Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced in February that the Obama Administration would defend the regulation, but instructed the agency to perform a 90-day review of the environmental considerations. Earlier this month, Secretary Salazar told reporters that he believed that the issue was a “distraction” for the agency.

In a letter sent to Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne in April 2008, seven former directors of the National Park Service stated that there was no need to change the regulations. “In all our years with the National Park Service, we experienced very few instances in which this limited regulation created confusion or resistance,” the letter stated. “There is no evidence that any potential problems that one can imagine arising from the existing regulations might overwhelm the good they are known to do.”

The American public overwhelmingly opposed the Bush Administration’s regulation. Of the 140,000 people who voiced their positions on the issue during the public comment period, 73 percent opposed allowing loaded, concealed firearms in the parks.

The Coalition of National Park Service Retirees and the Association of National Park Rangers were joined by the National Parks Conservation Association in this lawsuit and represented by Hogan & Hartson LLP.

# # #

CONTACT:
== For the Coalition of National Park Service Retirees: Bill Wade - 520-444-3973; == For the Association of National Park Rangers: Scot McElveen - 423-286-8644; == For the United States Park Ranger Lodge of the Fraternal Order of
Police: John Waterman - 800-407-8295

Attachments

Gun rule.pdf

Photos

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10 FAVORITE FOREIGN NATIONAL PARKS HIGHLIGHTED BY U.S. NATIONAL PARK SERVICE RETIREES

billw — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 17:08:30 -0600

The Parks That NPS Employees Visit When They Travel Abroad; Trekking from Aboriginal New Zealand to the Biblical Deserts of Saudi Arabia to the Great Hungarian Plains.

TUCSON, AZ. – February 11, 2008 – Ever wonder where people who work in national parks go when they take a vacation? Today, the 700-member Coalition of National Park Service Retirees (CNPSR) released a list of 10 of the best foreign national parks, spanning the globe from Australia, Africa, South America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia.

The list of personal favorites of NPS retirees is in the same of vein as the “Beyond Yellowstone: 7 Winter Travel Favorites” (http://www.npsretirees.org/pressroom/2006/winter-travel-recommendations-beyond-yellowstone), which was released by the Coalition in October 2006.

CNPSR member Don Goldman, former park planner in the old Southwest Region of the National Park Service, said: “Several years ago, in anticipation of family winter vacation time, the Coalition of National Park Service Retirees rounded up its members’ recollections of the most memorable U.S. national park areas they had worked in or visited. When the nominations came in, the selection process was like picking from among the loveliest flowers in the field. As we had to acknowledge, it was a highly subjective selection process. But our intention was to encourage Americans to visit their national parks; not just our favorites, but whichever ones they could get to. This year, the Coalition’s 700 members have suggestions for your vacation trips abroad. We who have spent our lives working in and with national parks not only visit our own, but make an effort to see other countries’ national parks, too.”

CNPSR member Rick Smith, former superintendent of Carlsbad Caverns said, “Most Americans know that Yellowstone was our first national park, but it was also the world’s first national park. The idea of a national park was new with Yellowstone, but it was soon adopted by many countries, one of the best ideas our country gave the world. Just as we did, those countries have expanded the original concept to a great variety of parks and reserves. Today, marvelous parks are to be found all over the world.”

Coalition members usually can’t stay away from such places on foreign vacations. Smith explained: “We plan many of our overseas trips around the national parks or protected areas we can visit in other countries.” Some NPS retirees even had the opportunity, when on temporary training or work assignments with foreign countries or as Peace Corps Volunteers, to work in and contribute to those countries’ national parks.

The following 10 foreign national parks are among the outstanding places CNPSR members recommended. Where it was necessary to break ties, the park chosen in the end was included to provide for maximum geographic diversity:

1. TONGARIRO N. P., New Zealand. This is one of the North Island’s three World Heritage Sites. It features volcanic peaks (one of which is active) and is still home to many Maoris, who donated the park to New Zealand in 1887, when it became the world’s fourth national park. The Maoris are very outgoing in displaying their culture to visitors.

2. KAKADU N. P., Northern Territory, Australia. This World Heritage Site is jointly managed by the Aborigines and the Australian government. It has magnificent vistas, great waterfalls, stunning displays of Aboriginal rock art, and is habitat to an awesome predator, the estuarine (saltwater) crocodile.

3. SNOWDONIA N. P., Wales, Great Britain. Snowdonia is a lovely mountain park, with Mount Snowdon, which is comprised of slate, rising to 3560 feet. While this park is not geologically or scenically spectacular compared with many mountain parks, it is spectacular in its own right, due in part to its peaceful nature.

4. KRUGER N. P., South Africa. This is perhaps the most impressive wildlife viewing area in the world. Millions of acres of habitat and little development give visitors an opportunity to see many large African mammals and magnificent birds. It is one of the few places where wildlife is in charge – they wander free and the visitors are controlled.

5. TIKAL N. P., Guatemala. This World Heritage Site contains the spectacular ruins of a Maya settlement from around 250–900 AD. The towering ruins of temples, one 70 meters tall, rising from the jungle that surrounds them, are mute testimony to the architectural genius of the Maya. As many as 90,000 people lived in Tikal at its zenith, but strife with neighboring towns and environmental stress caused its abandonment beginning in the 10th century. Of course, the Maya never left; they are there today, and a thrill of a visit is to see it with a Maya guide.

6. IGUAZU N. P., Argentina. This park protects one of the most spectacular natural landscapes in Argentina and Brazil, Iguazu Falls and the surrounding subtropical forest. The falls are 70 meters high, but even more impressive is their width: the river at the falls is 1500 meters wide. A thrilling experience is the short boat ride and walk along the catwalks to the most striking of the hundreds of falls, Garganta del Diablo, the Devil’s Throat. The roar itself is an unforgettable experience.

7. SAGARMANTHA N. P., Nepal. The park includes Mount Everest, among other prominent mountains. It has distinctive wildlife and small picturesque Sherpa villages with their gumpas (monasteries).

8. MADAIN SALEY NATIONAL HISTORIC PARK, Saudi Arabia. This region, the Biblical Midian, is mostly undulating desert, interspersed with huge rocky outcrops and lush oases. Here, between 500 B.C. and 100 A.D., the Nabatean people created 125 monumental cut-rock tombs and facades, edifices up to 130 feet tall, that are standing today in a remarkable state of preservation.

9. PLITVICE LAKES N.P., Croatia. Plitvice Lakes National Park is located in inland Croatia, about halfway between Zagreb and Split. In moderately mountainous terrain, the park features water – small lakes and streams and beautiful waterfalls everywhere. Because of the geology of the area, travertine is evident in most of the water features, giving them distinctive blue-green colors and exceptionally clear water. There are a number of excellent short and moderate hiking trails with quiet, non-polluting electric ferries connecting some of the trails by way of the lakes. Because of the vegetation, fall “color season” is especially spectacular.

10. HORTOBAGY N.P., Hungary. This park is located on the “puszta,” or great Hungarian plains. It was the country’s first national park. It also is a biosphere reserve and a World Heritage Site. The plains and wetlands reflect two millennia of human occupation and have supported agrarian life for centuries. It has several endangered bird species and is a refuge for the Przewalski horse and migratory waterfowl. Culturally, it preserves and interprets traditional Hungarian folkways, such as the nomadic herding culture of the puszta.

ABOUT CNPSR

The nearly 700 members of the Coalition of National Park Service Retirees are all former employees of the National Park Service with a combined 21,000 years of stewardship of America’ most precious natural and cultural resources. In their personal lives, CNPSR members reflect the broad spectrum of political affiliations. CNPSR members now strive to apply their credibility and integrity as they speak out for national park solutions that uphold law and apply sound science. The Coalition counts among its members: former national park directors and deputy directors, regional directors, superintendents, rangers and other career professionals who devoted an average of nearly 30 years each to protecting and interpreting America’s national parks on behalf of the public. For more information, visit the CNPSR Web site at http://www.npsretirees.org.

CONTACT: Patrick Mitchell, (703) 276-3266 or .

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NATIONAL PARK RANGERS: JANUARY 9, 2009 – A DAY TO REMEMBER; MORE GUNS IN NATIONAL PARKS

billw — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 09:20:49 -0600

NATIONAL PARK RANGERS: JANUARY 9, 2009 – A DAY TO REMEMBER; MORE GUNS IN NATIONAL PARKS

Members of Three National Park Service Employee Organizations Voice Serious Concerns About New Rule

TUCSON, AZ. – January 9, 2009 – Current and former National Park Service employees, many of them Law Enforcement Rangers and Park Interpretive Rangers today expressed serious alarm over the potential risks of the new rule to be implemented by the Department of the Interior that would allow concealed firearms in national parks.

“This new rule is fraught with a variety of threats and hazards to the solitude and atmosphere visitors have come to appreciate and to seek in national parks,” said Bill Wade, Chair of the Executive Council of the Coalition of National Park Service Retirees (CNPSR) and former superintendent of Shenandoah National Park in Virginia. CNPSR has over 690 members, all former NPS employees, with over 20,500 accumulated years of experience in managing national parks and NPS programs, including law enforcement and visitor services. Added Wade, “Beyond the risks to natural and historic resources in parks, we are troubled by the likelihood that the way park visitors relate to each other will be affected. Until now, parks have been conducive to visitors having casual chats with each other on hikes. Not uncommonly, visitors camped next to each other share a morning cup of coffee. This open social interaction is liable to change as suspicion and apprehension about the possession of concealed firearms makes people more distrustful.”

Scot McElveen, a retired Chief Park Ranger and President of the Association of National Park Rangers, with a membership of 1200 consisting of both current and former NPS employees expressed apprehension about the ability of the NPS to provide the best available protection to park resources under the new rule. “Park wildlife, including some rare or endangered species, will face increased threats by visitors with firearms who engage in impulse or opportunistic shooting,” said McElveen. “We also worry about increased vandalistic shooting at historic monuments, archeological petroglyphs and park signs and markers.”

McElveen also described situations in parks that will be confusing or troubling:
• How will a family with small children who are on a Ranger-guided tour feel about the fact that other visitors on the tour very well could have concealed guns in their pockets or backpacks?
• How will visitors attending an evening program at an amphitheater in a park campground feel about the possibility that others attending the program could have firearms in their purses or jackets?
• Firearms will still be prohibited in most Federal buildings, but will parks now have to provide places for visitors to check their firearms before entering visitor centers or ranger stations? Or will they have to install and staff metal detectors to ensure that firearms don’t get brought inside?
• Some parks lie in more than one state. Natchez Trace Parkway, for instance spans three states, each with a different gun law. What do visitors do when they pass from Tennessee to
Alabama and then to Mississippi?
• Some park visitors have a predisposition to kill on sight animals that they believe to be “varmints.” Such animals include coyotes, wolves, prairie dogs, snakes, and some raptors. Even though harming such animals has been illegal and will continue to be illegal under the new rule, having a loaded, readily-accessible firearm increases the chances that these visitors will act on their misplaced beliefs and fears.

John Waterman, a Law Enforcement Ranger at Valley Forge National Historical Park and President of the Ranger Lodge of the Fraternal Order of Police, representing the majority commissioned NPS Law Enforcement Rangers worries about employee and visitor safety and visitor confusion. He said, “This new regulation has replaced a clear and consistent regulation prohibiting guns in all national parks unless they are rendered inoperable and inaccessible, with one that opens a Pandora’s Box of confusing exceptions. Now, if you are in a national park in a state that allows concealed firearms and if you have a concealed-carry permit; or if the state you're from has reciprocal laws with the state you are in, then maybe you can carry a gun, but not in public buildings or if the state says you can't have one in a public park.... This is a regulatory nightmare both for the public and for Rangers.” Waterman also says, “More guns means more risk. For example, Rangers sometimes have to intervene in disputes in campgrounds. With the possibilities of guns being present, the risk increases, not only to the disputants, but to the Rangers who have to resolve the problem. Moreover, traffic stops now become more hazardous for Rangers in parks.”

Wade scoffed at the intent of the Department of the Interior in ramming this regulation through without appropriate analysis of the impacts it will have on national park resources and visitors. “They said it would increase consistency for the public. Clearly it doesn’t. They said there won’t be any impacts to park resources or visitors. But thousands of current and former Rangers and other employees – who actually work or worked in parks – say otherwise. They said this is what the American people wanted, but over 70% of the 140,000 who commented during the public comment period opposed the proposed rule. They said, ‘if you can carry a gun on Main Street you can now carry a gun in a national park.’ We don’t think Americans want their national parks to be like their main streets; they go to parks because they are special and different, and knowing they can get away from the pressures and stresses they face where they live and work.”

“January 9, 2009 is not a good day for national parks or for their visitors,” Wade added. “We hope the new Interior Secretary will reconsider this ill-advised regulation and keep national parks special and safe.”

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Contacts:
• For the Coalition of National Park Service Retirees: Bill Wade – 520-615-9417;
• For the Association of National Park Rangers: Scot McElveen – 423-286-8644;
• For the Ranger Lodge of the Fraternal Order of Police: John Waterman or George Durkee - 800-407-8295

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PARKS ADVOCATES FILE LAWSUIT TO KEEP LOADED, CONCEALED FIREARMS OUT OF NATIONAL PARKS

billw — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 18:02:04 -0600

According to the lawsuit, the Department of the Interior “adopted the Gun Rule with unwarranted haste, without following procedures required by law and without the consideration of its consequences that they are required to observe under law… The new regulation is an affront to the National Parks’ missions and purposes and a threat to the National Parks’ resources and values, which must be held unlawful and set aside.”

PRESS RELEASE:
National Parks Conservation Association and the Coalition of National Park Service Retirees

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
January 6, 2009

PARKS ADVOCATES FILE LAWSUIT TO KEEP LOADED, CONCEALED FIREARMS OUT OF NATIONAL PARKS

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The nation’s leading voice for America’s national parks, the nonprofit National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) and the Coalition of National Park Service Retirees today filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court that seeks an injunction against enforcement of the Bush Administration’s new regulation allowing loaded, concealed firearms in national parks at the risk of visitors, park staff, and wildlife, and to have the new rule declared unlawful. The rule is scheduled to take effect this Friday, January 9.

“In a rush to judgment, as a result of political pressure, the outgoing Administration failed to comply with the law, and did not offer any reason for doing so,” said NPCA President Tom Kiernan.

The Bush Administration last month finalized a National Rifle Association-driven rule change to allow loaded, concealed firearms in all national parks except those located in two states: Wisconsin and Illinois, which do not permit concealed weapons. The former rule, put in place by the Reagan Administration, required that firearms transported through national parks be safely stowed and unloaded.

“Our members, with over 20,000 years accumulated experience managing national parks can see absolutely no good coming from the implementation of this rule. More guns equal more risk,” said Bill Wade, Chair of the Executive Council of the Coalition of National Park Service Retirees, and former superintendent of Shenandoah National Park, Virginia. “Apparently, the Bush Administration chose to ignore the outpouring of concern voiced during the public comment period,” added Wade.

According to the lawsuit, the Department of the Interior “adopted the Gun Rule with unwarranted haste, without following procedures required by law and without the consideration of its consequences that they are required to observe under law… The new regulation is an affront to the National Parks’ missions and purposes and a threat to the National Parks’ resources and values, which must be held unlawful and set aside.”

The groups are arguing that the rule is unlawful because the Department of the Interior did not conduct an analysis of the rule’s environmental effects, as required by the National Environmental Policy Act, including the effects of the rule on threatened and endangered species. The suit also argues that the Department of the Interior ignored the National Park Service Organic Act, and the Administrative Procedure Act.

“Any reasonable person would have to conclude that changing these rules to allow more firearms in the national parks could have an environmental impact on park wildlife and resources,” Kiernan added.

In a letter sent to Interior Secretary Kempthorne on April 3, seven former directors of the National Park Service stated that there is no need to change the regulations. “In all our years with the National Park Service, we experienced very few instances in which this limited regulation created confusion or resistance,” the letter stated. “There is no evidence that any potential problems that one can imagine arising from the existing regulations might overwhelm the good they are known to do.”

The rule also was opposed by the current career leadership of the National Park Service and other park management professionals, including the Association of National Park Rangers and the Ranger Lodge of the Fraternal Order of Police.

The public agrees: of the 140,000 people who voiced their opinion on this issue during the public comment period, 73 percent opposed allowing loaded, concealed firearms in the parks.

The National Parks Conservation Association and Coalition of National Park Service Retirees are represented by Hogan & Hartson.

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