Coalition of National Park Service Retirees - Media Release

PEACE, QUIET AND NATURAL SOUNDS: AMERICA’S 5 BEST NATIONAL PARKS FOR ESCAPING FROM NOISE …

billw — Mon, 9 Jun 2008 19:12:29 -0500

...AND 5 NATIONAL PARKS MOST THREATENED BY NOISE

PEACE, QUIET AND NATURAL SOUNDS: AMERICA’S 5 BEST NATIONAL PARKS FOR ESCAPING FROM NOISE … AND 5 NATIONAL PARKS MOST THREATENED BY NOISE

Coalition of NPS Retirees: Quietest National Parks to be Found in NV, MI, WA, CA and MT; Noise Rising to Alarming Levels at National Parks in MA, SD, HI, CA and FL.

WASHINGTON, D.C.///June 10, 2008///Where should you go this summer and fall if you want to escape the rising tide of man-made sound? Where can you go to find quiet or a chorus of natural sounds, such as wind, water, birds, frogs, bugs and rustling leaves?

As a public service, the 650-member Coalition of National Park Service Retirees (CNPSR) have put together a list of the five national parks in the lower 48 states -- Great Basin National Park (Nevada), Isle Royale National Park (Michigan), North Cascades National Park (Washington State), Big Hole National Battlefield (Montana), and Muir Woods National Monument (California) -- where visitors can still find genuine peace, quiet and natural sounds. CNPSR members also have highlighted five parks -- Minute Man National Historical Park (Massachusetts), Mojave National Preserve (California), Mt. Rushmore National Park (South Dakota), Hawaii Volcanoes National Park (Hawaii), and Everglades National Park (Florida).-- that are most at risk in the face of growing noise pollution.

CNPSR Executive Council Chair Bill Wade said: “When people think of national parks, they think of the scenery, the wildlife, and the historical icons they hold. Many also think of a place they can ‘get away from it all’ and that includes escaping ruckus of everyday life. Fortunately, National Park Service (NPS) policies recognize the soundscape as an important park characteristic that needs to be protected. Some parks remain natural cathedrals to silence and natural sounds, while others now face an onslaught of airplane overflights, traffic sounds, snowmobiles, jet skis and other man-made noise pollution.”

CNPSR Executive Council Member Abby Miller, the former NPS deputy associate director for Natural Resources and Stewardship, said: “We have put together some tips on a variety of parks to go to enjoy quiet or the sounds of nature, as well as some places you may need to avoid if what you are looking for is peace and quiet. While our park selections are naturally subjective, they are based on the thousands of years of experiences of CNPSR members who are among those who know best of all. We hope that park visitors will appreciate and pay attention to the preservation of natural sound – an important aspect of our national treasures.”

TOP FIVE PARKS FOR PEACE, QUIET AND NATURAL SOUNDS

When you visit these or other national parks, tell the rangers you want to be away from man-made sounds as much as possible and ask their advice for the best sections of the park to visit quietly to enjoy the park and its natural sound:

• Great Basin National Park, Nevada (www.nps.gov/grba). “You can hear the birds' wings as they fly,” says a retired superintendent of this park. “Come to Great Basin National Park to experience the solitude of the desert, the smell of sagebrush after a thunderstorm, the darkest of night skies, and the beauty of Lehman Caves,” beckons the park’s Web site. The Great Basin region is bounded by the Wasatch Mountains to the east, the Sierra Nevada to the west, and the Snake River Plain to the north and includes most of Nevada, half of Utah, and sections of four other states. Its rivers and streams do not drain to either the Gulf of Mexico or the Pacific Ocean. Sitting in the rain shadow of the Sierra Nevada and Cascade Mountains, it is a temperate desert with hot, dry summers and snowy winters. Because of its drastic elevation changes from valleys to peaks, the region supports an impressive diversity of species, from those adapted to the desert to those adapted to forest and alpine environments. Great Basin National Park preserves a small representative piece of this entire region, and also includes reminders of its past human habitation, from Native American to ranching and mining. Hiking here, or especially snowshoeing or cross-country skiing in the winter, are excellent ways to experience peaceful natural sounds in one of the West’s lesser known and lesser visited parks.

• Isle Royale National Park, Michigan (www.nps.gov/isro). Isle Royale is a remote wilderness park, at least remote for the Eastern half of the country. It is surrounded by the large, clear, cold, and untamed waters of Lake Superior. The land base is 99% designated wilderness, although the majority of the park acreage is in Lake Superior where motorized boating is allowed—requiring some attention to location and timing to find places where the sounds of nature prevail. The peak boating is during the month of August; many of the dock accessible campgrounds in spring and fall or outside of August are often vacant of motorboats. The months of May, June, to mid July, September and October give the best opportunities for experiencing the wilderness qualities Isle Royale is known for. These same qualities can be found almost anytime by those in the interior, especially when hiking, paddling and camping in the more remote areas. Many boaters find the best natural qualities in the peak of the season by anchoring out in isolated bays, coves, and harbors.

• North Cascades National Park, Washington State (www.nps.gov/noca). Jagged peaks and deep valleys, encompassing 9000 feet of vertical relief, cascading waterfalls, over 300 glaciers, temperate rainforests and ponderosa pine systems make the North Cascades National Park Service Complex scenic, diverse, and a great place to explore. Three park units in this mountainous region are managed as one and include North Cascades National Park, and Ross Lake, and Lake Chelan National Recreation Areas. Three national forests surround the complex. While recreation includes motor boats in portions of the National Recreation Areas, jet skis are not allowed in any of the three areas. The Steven Mather Wilderness Area includes over 634,000 acres, most of it in the national park. Almost 400 miles of trails allow visitors to experience nature with minimal human-caused intrusions. In the wilderness area, areas such as Cascade Pass, Mt. Shuksan, Thornton Lakes, Easy Pass, and Hidden Lake Peaks receive heavy day use and are therefore somewhat less quiet. Opportunities for solitude are greatest in the more remote cross-country zones. Overnight recreational use is closely managed to provide a high level of solitude, including permits, designated campsites, and party size limits. As in other parks, ask the rangers for their advice to help plan your trip to the quietest parts of the park.

• Big Hole National Battlefield, Montana (www.nps.gov/biho). The battle at Big Hole grew out of a long struggle between non-Indians, hungry for land and gold, and the Nimiipu, or Nez Perce. After failing to uphold an 1855 treaty, the United States signed a second treaty in 1863 that reduced the Nez Perce lands by 90%, a treaty not signed by Nez Perce bands outside the new reservation. During a forced eviction in 1877, three young Nez Perce men took revenge on settlers for Indian deaths, beginning the Nez Perce War. At this site, Nez Perce fleeing to Canada were attacked in their tipis before dawn; while the Nez Perce prevailed and continued their flight, several were killed and buried here. It is considered a sacred burial ground by the Nez Perce. The battlefield sits in the beautiful U-shaped Big Hole Valley near Wisdom, Montana. Characterized by willows, sedges, and grasses—though many are non-natives—and flanked by sagebrush steppes and coniferous forests, the park provides habitat for moose and elk and retains much of its 1877 character. In addition to evoking thoughts about the war, spending quiet time in this park can give hints about what the site must have been like in more peaceful times before the battle of 1877, when the Nez Perce and others used this area to hunt and gather resources, such as tipi poles and camas lilies.

• Muir Woods National Monument, California (www.nps.gov/muwo). This small park in the greater San Francisco Bay area probably isn’t the first park you would think of if you wanted to get away from it all, with its daily crowds of tour buses from the city. The short half-mile path through the redwood forest is never far from the parking lot, though longer, more remote hikes are available. However, the park takes its responsibilities to protect the primeval qualities of the old-growth redwood forest seriously. To that end, they have embarked on a variety of efforts to document the soundscape and to enlist social scientists to help understand if people value the natural soundscape and what they would change to help protect it. Upcoming is a Centennial DVD of the park soundscape, to complement planned new visitor center exhibits. The Junior Ranger program was reworked to have quieting exercises and a new QUEST (a poetic treasure hunt) also that emphasizes listening and appreciating the natural soundscape. These efforts responded to visitors noting that rambunctious kids were the main source of human noise. The park has also tested quiet days and quiet zones. In December 2007, a Winter Solstice celebration included quiet times and five Quiet Days are planned in 2008.

Note: The preceding list deliberately omits national parks in Alaska. Many Alaska parks are inaccessible by road and relatively lightly visited. That means less automobile traffic, RV generators and many other sounds of modern life. But airplane transport is required for many of these parks, and snowmobiles and ATVs are normal backcountry travel in the Alaskan bush, bringing their own noise in varying amounts. Compared to sites in the lower 48 states, a trip to a national park in the Alaska bush still provides for plenty of peace and quiet and lots of natural sounds.

FIVE NATIONAL PARKS TO WORRY ABOUT

Five national parks with the most serious noise problems are:

• Minute Man National Historical Park, Massachusetts (www.nps.gov/mima). This park in the Boston suburbs commemorates the beginning of the American Revolution. It is difficult enough in its current environment to experience the battlefield as it was and or find an atmosphere of reverence. The proposed expansion of commuter service at Hanscom Field has caused significant public controversy regarding the potential impact to the park. Hanscom Field is located just north of Minute Man and is surrounded by four historic communities: Lexington, Concord, Lincoln, and Bedford. Visitors to these sites should be able to experience a soundscape that is as similar to the late 1700s as possible.

• Mojave National Preserve, California (www.nps.gov/moja). Mojave, whose Web site indicates that it “provides serenity and solitude from the crowds of major metropolitan areas” is threatened by proposed new airport near the town of Primm, about 40 miles southwest of Las Vegas. The proposed airport would alleviate air traffic at Las Vegas McCarran. If all goes as planned by the county, the new airport would be built by 2017 and handle about 35 million passengers per year. The proposal is opposed by those who object to air traffic over Mojave National Preserve in California, and to noise and air pollution in parts of California and southern Nevada. An environmental impact study for the proposal is scheduled to be finished in 2010.

• Mt. Rushmore National Park, South Dakota (www.nps.gov/moru). This part of the country would otherwise seem to be an ideal place to find a quiet park. However, an air tour Interim Operating Authority is in place for over 5,000 flights annually, with activity concentrated during the summer holiday months. The primary operator has suspended operations, but the FAA maintains that their allocation could be picked up by anyone willing to purchase the company. The park is so small that air tours are audible throughout the park for most of their flight tracks. Another issue that affects quiet at this and other parks is emerging. Sturgis, South Dakota is the focus of a two-week motorcycle rally in August. The noise from this event and those traveling to it affect Mt. Rushmore and other Dakota parks. Motorcycle traffic affects other parks as well, particularly intentionally-loud motorcycles. While many motorcycles are as quiet as or quieter than an automobile, there are a significant numbers that are very loud, and that are marketed and ridden with this sound production capacity as an identifying, and to some, a desirable characteristic. Cities like Denver and Malibu are starting to take action against after-market changes that increase motorcycle noise. Could roads through parks be the next sites for a crack down on the growing noise problem?

• Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, Hawaii (www.nps.gov/havo). This National Park is most often visited to view its active volcanoes, Kilauea and Mauna Loa, and to appreciate the wonders of volcanism’s constant changes to the landscape. The park is located on the youngest and largest of the Hawaiian Islands. As an island ecosystem, its array of species that arrived from other places to survive and reproduce includes many unique species and a living laboratory for the study of evolutionary processes. The Park is one of the few remaining natural areas in Hawaii protecting contiguous habitat from sea to summit. To experience all of the geologic and biotic wonders of the park there are 150 miles of trails to explore. Active eruptions are not always viewable by foot or car; in these cases overflights are the only way to see eruptions. But there are tens of thousands of air tour flights per year. The routes in the park are subject to nominal Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regulation, but orbiting time over eruption sites is uncontrolled. The Napau Crater wilderness hike lies directly underneath one of the most active air tour routes.

• Everglades National Park, Florida (www.nps.gov/ever). Everglades National Park preserves a million and a half acres of unique tropical water and grass environment along with hammocks, mangroves and other systems — most of it designated wilderness. Sound travels well over water, and grass does little to absorb it, so control of unwanted noise is particularly important. Yet Everglades, as well as other south Florida parks—Big Cypress Preserve and Biscayne Bay -- are impacted by air boats, motor boats, generators, and other motors operating inside and outside the park, causing big impacts. Ft. Jefferson on Dry Tortugas, in particular, is dependent on noisy generators. While the wilderness canoe trail is a popular activity to explore and enjoy the park’s wilderness, it does not offer respite from manmade sounds. Thus there are issues of controls, as well as the need for better, quieter equipment where operations require motors.

Two national parks are omitted from the preceding list, since their long-standing noise issues are well known — Grand Canyon and its aircraft overflight issue and Yellowstone’s snowmobile problem. While Yellowstone has seen an unsatisfactory resolution of snowmobile-related noise issues, there has been some progress at Grand Canyon, where special legislation was passed aimed just at controlling overflight activities at this park and reducing their impact. The National Park Service works with the FAA on these issues (and the military in relation to their overflights). While FAA does the regulating, NPS is the acknowledged expert on determining effects on parks and FAA the expert and responsible party for issues related to aircraft use and safety. At no point in a FAA reauthorization process should changes be made to the Park Service’s current lead role in the regulation of aircraft overflights.

About CNPSR

The 640 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 America’ 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 America’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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CNPSR Opposes Visitor Center Expansion at Little Bighorn

billw — Mon, 19 May 2008 12:00:00 -0500

A plan to build an expanded visitor center at the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument in Montana has sparked heated opposition from historians, two former park superintendents and groups.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 19, 2008
9:36 AM

CONTACT: Public Employees for Environmental
Responsibility (PEER) and the Coalition of
National Park Service Retirees (CNPSR)
Carol Goldberg [PEER] (202) 265-7337;
Bill Wade [CNPSR] (520) 615-9417

New Battle at the Little Bighorn
Planned "Temporary" Visitor Center in Center of Battlefield Draws
Historians' Ire

WASHINGTON, DC - May 19 - A plan to build an expanded visitor center at the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument in Montana has sparked heated opposition from historians, two former park superintendents and groups. This week, Public Employees for Environmental
Responsibility (PEER) and the Coalition of National Park Service Retirees (CNPSR) have asked NPS Director Mary Bomar to halt the plan and review its appropriateness, legality and impact on the historic battlefield.

Under the plan, an enclosed theater seating 200 people would be built at the base of Last Stand Hill, site of the climax of the 1876 battle in which General George Armstrong Custer and five companies of the 7th Cavalry were wiped out. On April 23, 2008, the National Park Service cleared the project for construction, slated to begin as early as this summer.

Although the site is now occupied in part by a patio attached to the current visitor center, the expansion has drawn heavyweight opposition, led by former NPS Chief Historian Robert Utley, because it would occupy the heart of the battlefield and intrude on the historic landscape;
contradict the 1986 General Management Plan (GMP) for the park which envisions a new visitor center near where the battle started and out of the battle sightlines; and violate the philosophy of historic preservation embodied by the much-praised new visitor center at Gettysburg, which does not visually intrude on the cultural landscape.

While the NPS contends that this building would only be a stopgap measure, inadequate temporary structures have a tendency to be left in place for decades, said Bill Wade, Executive Council Chair of the CNPSR, noting that a private group led by a former Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument superintendent has already purchased lands and raised funds for the new visitor center envisioned by the GMP. This plan makes the current situation much worse and gets in the way of what should be done.

As recently as last year, the National Park Service itself conceded that the project would have an adverse impact on the battlefield but reversed that finding without explanation. In addition, according to a legal analysis by PEER, the plan appears to be at odds with the National Environmental Policy Act, the National Historic Preservation Act and the Service’s own Management Policies.

The latest Park Service finding that this project would have no significant impact does not stand up to scrutiny, stated PEER Senior Counsel Paula Dinerstein, pointing to NPS policies that are supposed to prevent the agency from putting itself between visitors and the park resource. A theater to display an NPS-produced film should not be in the middle of the very battlefield it is supposed to preserve.

The PEER letter also asks Director Bomar to suspend the project in order to avoid litigation.

See CNPSR's letter to NPS Director Bomar.

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Valley Forge Facing 'Desecration', NPS Retirees Urge an Immediate Stop to Development Plan

billw — Wed, 14 May 2008 20:52:02 -0500

WITH VALLEY FORGE FACING “DESECRATION” UNDER DEVELOPMENT PLAN, 640 NPS RETIREES URGE INTERIOR DEP’T TO USE 1916 LAW TO STOP “NATIONAL OUTRAGE”

Major Undermining of Historic Revolutionary War Site Feared Under Controversial Plan; Kempthorne Lauded For Actions So Far, But Now Urged to Use “Organic Act” to Halt the Project.

WASHINGTON, D.C.///May 15, 2008/// With plans advancing for a controversial development on 78 privately held acres inside Valley Forge National Historical Park, the 640-member Coalition of National Park Service Retirees (CNPSR) today are applauding U.S. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne for what he has done so far to avoid endorsing the planned Disney-style private hotel-tavern-restaurant-convention-center-museum complex. But CNPSR officials also say that the time is now for Secretary Kempthorne to do more to prevent “a national outrage” that would result from the “desecration of the cultural resources” of “this iconic national treasure” in the heart of the Continental Army’s successful winter encampment of 1777-1778.

CNPSR officials note that Kempthorne has the power under a 1916 federal law to intervene and stop the Valley Forge project put forward by a group called the “American Revolution Center (ARC).”

In a letter to Kempthorne, CNPSR Executive Council Chair Bill Wade said: “We are concerned that to date the National Park Service and the Department of the Interior have not taken more pro-active steps to stop this project. We know the NPS expressed its concerns to ARC both privately, then publicly when its concerns remained unaddressed, and to the local township authorities who have the power to stop this project. But we also understand that the ARC and the local township majority have ignored those concerns and are moving ahead. We know that the NPS has the authority, under the NPS Organic Act and the ‘property clause’ of the U.S. Constitution to stop the development, if it comes to that. We believe you have the responsibility to protect Valley Forge National Historical Park.”

In the communication to Secretary Kempthorne, Wade points out that Professor Wayne Bodle, a scholar reported to have spent 10 years studying original historical documents in the possession of the park, has examined “the history of the part of Valley Forge National Historical Park where ARC intends to build its museum, conference center and hotel complex. Bodle’s studies clearly dispute ARC’s claim that there are no significant cultural resources on the parcel they propose to develop. In the face of this evidence and that in the General Management Plan for [Valley Forge], we are stunned that ARC continues plans to build on such a historically significant site. The site plans show that construction would entail major earth movements, retaining walls, water collection basins, and major areas set aside for bus and automobile parking lots. Desecration of the cultural resources and context of this parcel would be a national outrage.”

Given the direct threat to the integrity of Valley Forge, Kempthorne must act to protect the national park, according to CNPSR. As Wade explains: “We believe you have the responsibility to protect Valley Forge National Historical Park. Congress made that responsibility clear in the 1916 Organic Act, directing the Secretary of the Interior to prevent the impairment of units of the National Park System: ‘The Secretary has an absolute duty, which is not to be compromised, to fulfill the mandate of the 1916 Act to take whatever action and seek whatever relief as will safeguard the units of the National Park System.’ We would appreciate your advising us what steps you and the National Park Service plan to take to prevent the major adverse impacts this project will cause to this iconic national treasure.”

The ARC purchased the site inside the Valley Forge National Historical Park – what is called an “inholding” – after it broke off negotiations with the NPS to place a museum in conjunction with the park’s existing Welcome Center because it failed to accept the NPS’s requirements for the museum.

On May 5, 2008, the local township gave ARC preliminary approval of its development plans, and the township is now being asked to give final approval to part of the building plans, a process likely to be completed in the next two months or so.

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Guns in National Parks

billw — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 15:53:42 -0500

NPS RETIREES OPPOSE PROPOSAL CHANGING COMMON-SENSE GUN RULES IN NATIONAL PARKS

WASHINGTON, D.C.///April 29, 2008///The 640-member Coalition of National Park Service Retirees (CNPSR) today issued the following statement on a rule being proposed to allow more guns in U.S. national parks.

CNPSR Executive Council Chair Bill Wade said: “We think the proposed rule is manufactured and driven politically to fix a problem that doesn’t exist. Data show that parks are among the safest places to be in this country. Moreover, we believe it will create more problems than it can possibly fix. It is likely to alter, over time, the friendly atmosphere visitors look forward to in parks, where they go to get away from the day to day pressures and influences of their everyday lives, including worry about guns.

How many visitors want to be concerned about whether the person next to them during a ranger-guided walk, or that shares a backcountry campsite, has a concealed, loaded gun? Reliance on impulsive use of guns in the face of perceived threats or disputes, such as in campgrounds will increase the risk to visitors and employees. Impulsive uses of guns in response to being startled by or by perceived threats from wildlife will increase the risks to wildlife and to visitors, such as from wounded wildlife or shots fired at wildlife -- such as in campground -- that miss and connect with nearby campers.

Administrative requirements related to this rule in parks will become complicated. Issues of reciprocity of authorities for guns between states will have to be sorted out. Decisions about how to keep guns out of administrative and concession buildings will involve signing, further cluttering the developed areas; and potentially even security screening.

The existing regulation works just fine, and has for decades. This is a proposed rule that deserves to be shot down!”

The proposed regulation can be viewed at: http://www.regulations.gov/fdmspublic/component/main?main=DocumentDetail&o=090000648053d422

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NPS RETIREES URGE INTERIOR DEPARTMENT, NATIONAL PARK SERVICE TO OPPOSE ATTACK ON VALLEY FORGE

billw — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 19:55:58 -0500

NPS RETIREES URGE INTERIOR DEPARTMENT, NATIONAL PARK SERVICE TO OPPOSE ATTACK ON VALLEY FORGE

“Outrageous” Complex Threatened for 78-Acre Site Within National Park Amounts to “Hostile Takeover Bid” to Siphon Off Park Visitors; Why Isn’t NPS Speaking Up to Protect Valley Forge?

WASHINGTON, D.C.///March 12, 2008///The 640-member Coalition of National Park Service Retirees (CNPSR) today warned that the integrity of Valley Forge National Historical Park in Pennsylvania is at risk because of a proposed development plan for 78 privately held acres within the boundaries of the park. CNPSR urged the U.S. Department of Interior and National Park Service (NPS) to break their silence and speak out against the unfolding “siege” on Valley Forge.

The planned Disney-style private hotel-tavern-restaurant-convention-center-museum complex would be built on a site that historians say was critical to the Continental Army’s successful winter encampment of 1777-1778. The plan is the brainchild of a group called the “American Revolution Center (ARC).”

CNPSR Executive Council Chair Bill Wade said: “There was no battle at Valley Forge when Washington and his men survived the winter of 1777, but this historic site now is under siege today by an organization operating with what appears to be complete disregard for the fact that this is land inside part of the National Park System. The ARC, headed by Mr. Tom Daly, seems intent on using the proposed complex to hijack visitors from the Park and make them paying customers for private enterprise. The development would strain the natural resources of the surrounding area and threaten potential cultural resources on the historic grounds planned for the development. It also would ‘short-circuit’ the park’s extremely well-researched educational program for visitors, which is designed to begin at the park’s Welcome Center and progress through a very well-structured experience as visitors move through the current park.”

Where are National Park Service officials? Where is the Secretary of the Interior? Why are they not defending Valley Forge from this modern-day siege?

ARC officials have pressured National Park Service officials to allow their Valley Forge plan to move forward without significant protest. To date, the superintendent of the Valley Forge National Historical Park has been alone among Interior/NPS officials in speaking out against the plan to undermine Valley Forge.

Normally, National Park Service and Interior Department leadership would publicly oppose a plan as radical as the one advanced by the ARC as being completely inconsistent with the mission of the NPS and with the legislation that established Valley Forge. However, because of the intense political pressure generated by Mr. Daly and his colleagues, leaders in the NPS and Interior seem less inclined to take such action.

The ARC purchased the site in question – what is called an “inholding” – after it broke off negotiations with the NPS to place a museum in conjunction with the park’s existing Welcome Center because it failed to accept the NPS’s requirements for the museum.

During this time, Daly and his colleagues repeatedly criticized the NPS in public and distorted numerous aspects of the “partnership” in an effort to justify ARC’s actions. Then Daly went to the Lower Providence Township Board of Supervisors and prevailed in his quest to establish a “Living History Overlay District” ordinance covering the inholding. In a controversial move, the supervisors narrowly voted 3 – 2 in favor of the ordinance on September 6, 2007.

The ordinance allows not only the museum, originally planned to be built in conjunction with existing park facilities, but it also allows for an auditorium, a conference center, up to 99 lodging units, a restaurant, tavern, retail store, chapel and a campground, along with associated roads and parking areas.

Wade said: “I recently visited Valley Forge, and viewed the site of the proposed development. Moreover, I have studied the park’s general management plan, completed in December 2007. This proposal by ARC is nothing short of a ‘hostile takeover bid’ designed to create a new, private entrance to the park, lure visitors to the development in order to present ARC’s version of the history of the area and collect the revenue from their visitors.”

He added: “Valley Forge National Historical Park belongs to all Americans. It is not Tom Daly’s park. It is not the Lower Providence Township’s park They evidently think of Valley Forge as a local park, rather than as a component of a National Park System that is a cumulative expression of a single national heritage, for the common benefit of all the people of the United States, as the United States Congress intended it to be when it established it as a National Historical Park in 1976. People from New York, North Dakota and Nevada should be disgusted by those who would undertake or support actions that would diminish the values of this American icon in favor of narrow self-interests.”

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NPS RETIREES: CURRENT GUN RULES FOR NATIONAL PARKS ARE WORKING, SHOULD NOT BE WEAKENED

billw — Mon, 4 Feb 2008 08:40:10 -0600

U.S. Senators Urged to Stick With Current “Common Sense” Rule Permitting Unloaded, Stored Guns in Parks; Increased Poaching and Risks to Campers, Rangers and Historic Sites Seen Under Looser Approach.

The requirement that guns in parks be unloaded and put away is a reasonable and limited restriction to facilitate a legitimate purpose—the protection of precious park resources and visitors’ safety.

WASHINGTON, D.C.///February 4, 2008///Prior to a possible vote this week, the 635-member Coalition of National Park Service Retirees (CNPSR) today warned the U.S. Senate about an expected amendment to S. 2483 that would bar the U.S. Secretary of the Interior from continuing to enforce current rules that allow gun owners to have their guns unloaded and stored while visiting national parks.

CNPSR Executive Council Chair Bill Wade said: “There is absolutely no hue and cry among Americans today to change the current common-sense rule on guns in national parks that has been in place since the 1960’s or even earlier. This sensible regulation is working as intended to minimize poaching and ensure the highest possible level of safety for park visitors, rangers and irreplaceable natural resources and historic sites. Rangers are taught to use caution when contacting visitors involved with infractions of the regulations. An already tense situation of dealing with violators could be much more intense and perhaps more dangerous because the violator may also be carrying a gun pursuant to state regulations – even one hidden from view. ”

CNPSR Executive Council Member Denny Huffman added: “It is a hoax to suggest that there is some big demand out there for people to be able to tote semi-automatic weapons on the trails of Yellowstone or nine-millimeter pistols on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. The current rules in no way prohibit guns in parks, but they do work to discourage that tiny percentage of irresponsible individuals who would engage in poaching and target practice at the expense of irreplaceable natural and historic sites. Responsible sportsmen and gun owners respect our national parks; they know that the current rule on guns is no infringement on their Second Amendment rights.”

Wade added: “Our overstretched and underfunded national parks do not have the staff required to deal with a major uptick in poaching activity. Parks are ‘living museums,’ set aside with the highest protection available and their own set of laws to carry out that mission. It is because these places are special, subject to the highest level of protection that you can even see the animals in Yellowstone, or Grand Canyon, or the Everglades. We don’t need to downgrade that protection when it has worked so well for so long.”

The current regulation in question simply does not prohibit guns in the parks. Under 36 CFR 2.4 (a)(2), weapons “may be possessed” in national parks so long as the guns are “rendered temporarily inoperable or are packed, cased or stored in a manner that will prevent their ready use.” This regulation was put in place to prevent the poaching of wildlife and to ensure visitor safety.

By contrast, the proposed Senate amendment would require parks to observe state gun laws. For example, since Wyoming has almost no limitations on guns, visitors could see persons with semi-automatic weapons in campgrounds and park trails at Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks. Similarly, loaded guns would be permitted in such iconic locations as Mount Rushmore.

In its letter to U.S. Senators, the Association of National Park Rangers (ANPR) notes of the proposed regulations: “There is simply no legitimate or substantive reason for a thoughtful sportsman or gun owner to carry a loaded gun in a national park unless that park permits hunting. The requirement that guns in parks be unloaded and put away is a reasonable and limited restriction to facilitate a legitimate purpose—the protection of precious park resources and visitors’ safety. We urge you to protect park wildlife and visitors by voting “No” on Senator Coburn’s amendment.”

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630-MEMBER NATIONAL PARK RETIREE GROUP GIVES “1872 AWARD” TO KRISTEN BRENGEL OF THE WILDERNESS SOCIETY

billw — Wed, 9 Jan 2008 00:00:00 -0600

National parks advocate cited for tireless and dedicated efforts to assure that national park resources are conserved unimpaired for the current and future generations.

WASHINGTON, D.C.//January 9, 2008///A respected coalition of 630 national park leaders with more than 18,000 years of relevant experience today presented an award to The Wilderness Society’s Kristen Brengel. Brengel was presented with the Coalition of National Park Service Retirees’ “1872 Award.” In presenting the award at a gathering of Brengel’s colleagues, CNPSR Executive Council Chairman Bill Wade said, “Yellowstone, the world’s first national park was established in 1872. This set in motion a worldwide effort to preserve special places. In the United States, over 390 of the nation’s significant heritage areas have been included in the National Park System. Constant vigilance is required to assure that the resources of these areas are protected as the American people expect. Few people work harder at this than Kristen Brengel, who has worked tirelessly for a number of years to preserve the values of the National Park System.”

Wade also said that Brengel had been instrumental in contributing to CNPSR’s stated guiding principles and has served as a valuable advisor and supporter to the Coalition as it has grown to its present level from its inception in May, 2003.

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2008 “WISH LIST” FOR NATIONAL PARKS ISSUED BY COALITION OF NPS RETIREES

billw — Sun, 6 Jan 2008 13:07:17 -0600

Principled Leadership, Halt to Rising Park Fees, Making NPS Greener and Focus on Science in Decisions Cited As Key Areas Where Action is Needed in the New Year.

WASHINGTON, D.C.///January 07, 2008///The Coalition of National Park Service Retirees (CNPSR) today released its top seven wishes for 2008 pertaining to America’s National Park System, including: adequate funding for national parks; a return to an emphasis on science in the decision-making process; a curb on rising park fees; and making the National Park Service (NPS) greener and more sustainable.

CNPSR Executive Council Chair Bill Wade, a former superintendent of Shenandoah National Park, said: “We’ve decided to publish this list to call attention to critical actions and changes needed in the management of national parks so that they can fulfill their mission as the premiere system of heritage areas for Americans. Major changes in the stewardship of our national parks are needed starting as early as possible in 2008.”

Wish Number 1: Resurrect principled decision-making and leadership within the Department of the Interior and the NPS. There are too many decisions being made for political reasons and to satisfy special and commercial interests, and not enough decisions being made on principle and in accordance with the intent of the legislated mission of the NPS. Bill Brown, retired historian for the NPS, said: “We are in a time of increasingly spineless leadership, both within and without the Service. We see leaders who are reasonably skilled in mechanical matters, but lacking in the deeper substance that gives meaning and purpose to our efforts. They are also lax in honoring agreements and arrangements that were meant to be good-faith binding because they were the right thing to do then and those ties are still meant to bind. But they are conveniently forgotten because some arbitrary cost or efficiency criterion replaces the handshake, the contract. It is another facet of the assault on our constitutional concept of a nation of laws. It is the same kind of limited, empty thinking where lasting values degrade and dissolve.” Wade said: “The decision-making processes now are often conducted without adequate public review. The result is that the interests of a few take precedence over the public good. NPS managers must make the 2006 management policies the basis for every planning or public use or resources management decision and the NPS public participation process should become fully transparent and assign a significant value to the role of the citizen advocate for parks.”

Wish Number 2: Halt the rampant implementation of fees and fee increases in parks. Maureen Finnerty, a member of CNPSR’s Executive Council and former NPS associate director for park operations said: “Park Superintendents have been placed in the position of raising fees and initiating new fees in order to help subsidize their inadequate budgets in parks. Among the consequences of this approach are pricing certain populations of Americans out of the opportunities to visit national parks.” The disturbing trend of the past several years of focusing commercial and tourism organizations on the objective of increasing visitation to the parks should be derailed and reversed.

Wish Number 3: Make NPS greener. The NPS should become a national leader in reducing the carbon impact of park operations and in promoting sustainable lifestyles in its publications and interpretive programs. Some park concessioners are far “greener” than the NPS in regard to recycling and reducing fuel consumption. This may stem at least in part from budgets that are inadequate to meet the cost of more sustainable operations and infrastructure, including replacing high-mileage fleets. Too many park operations are still more carbon-intensive than they should be. As the nation’s premier conservation agency, the NPS should be a leader in these areas. Its interpretive programs should emphasize “living lighter on the land.” Visitors should leave NPS areas with a greater understanding of sustainability and with the confidence that the parks are at the cutting edge of reducing our impact on the earth. "Moreover, we see our parks as valuable natural laboratories to help understand the impacts of global climate change and study and pursue possible measures to preserve resources," said Abby Miller, a member of CNPSR’s Executive Council and former NPS deputy associate director for natural resources and stewardship. “We believe much more can be done to not only protect the critical resources in parks, but to monitor them as indicators of impending effects of climate change.”

Wish Number 4: Adequately fund America’s national parks. For Congress, this would mean increasing appropriations so that valuable visitor interpretive programs within parks are restored, rangers can work more effectively with school districts to bring parks to classrooms, parks are staffed with enough rangers to adequately protect park resources and the visitors who come to enjoy them, and to adequately meet the challenges of fixing a decaying park system infrastructure such as roads, trails, visitor centers, and other public facilities. Estimates are that the annual operating program for the NPS is deficient by as much as $800 million and that there is a “maintenance backlog” of over $8 billion. Current initiatives involving substantial infusion of philanthropic funds are important, but worrisome in that they move the parks more toward privatization and to being disproportionately influenced by non-public interest groups. The role of philanthropy should not be one of funding basic, essential operations of parks.

Wish Number 5: Restore science and research to their rightful place in the hierarchy of the NPS planning and decision-making processes. The snowmobile issue in Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks is a perfect example. Despite overwhelming evidence that snowmobile use in the parks degrades air quality, violates noise standards, and harasses wildlife, the NPS decided to continue their use in these parks. According to immediate-past NPS Director Fran Mainella, political influence instead of science was used to make the decisions. Wade said: “This is the ‘banner’ example of where callous emphasis on compromise has overruled science, legal mandates and public preference to arrive at a decision that pleases no one.”

Wish Number 6: Create a National Park Service Centennial Commission. CNPSR calls for the establishment and convening of a non-partisan National Park Service Centennial Commission to lead the nation in a deep and thoughtful multi-year national dialog. Rob Arnberger, a member of CNPSR’s Executive Council and former regional director in Alaska, said: “The Commission will explore the importance of parks in our society and national life and determine the long term governance strategies that will meet the future needs of our nation and assure long term sustainability of our nation’s system of parks. Enlightened national leadership must create the circumstances to begin this dialog on behalf of the broadest public interest. The Commission will develop a report, or series of reports, on the status of the National Park System and the National Park Service, the issues and opportunities they face, constraints that impact the system and challenges to be faced in the new century. The Commission’s work would examine alternatives for addressing these issues and constraints that must be engaged, including fiscal and human resources required to accomplish the mission of the system for the long term.”

Wish Number 7: Return NPS to its former status as a leader in the world conservation movement. Rick Smith, a member of CNPSR’s Executive Council and former superintendent of Carlsbad Caverns National Park, was heavily involved in international park protection work during his career and since his retirement. He said: “For years, conservation professionals from other countries exchanged strategies and tactics regarding protected area management with their US colleagues. During the last 7 years, the political appointees in the Department of the Interior have used budget excuses to choke off the travel of NPS professionals to other countries where such exchanges took place. The result is that the US has lost its position as a leader in the world conservation movement. We need to jump start this program again, if for no other reason than to learn what other park professionals are doing.”

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LBJ Legacy

jersu — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 02:00:00 -0600

NPS RETIREES: LBJ NATIONAL AND STATE HISTORICAL PARKS LEGACY IN JEOPARDY LESS THAN ONE HALF YEAR AFTER PASSING OF “LADY BIRD” JOHNSON

Watchdog Group Objects to Undermining of Cooperative Federal-State LBJ Site on Heels of the Death of America’s First Lady Remembered for Preserving America’s Outdoors.

WASHINGTON, D.C.///November 26, 2007/// In an unseemly development little more than four months after the July 11, 2007 death of “Lady Bird” Johnson, the wife of former President Lyndon Baines Johnson, the National Park Service (NPS) seems to be intent on undermining the United States’ commitment to the memory of LBJ and the former First Lady, according to the 620-member Coalition of National Park Service Retirees (CNPSR).

In a recent letter to National Park Service Director Mary Bomar, CNPSR Executive Council Chair Bill Wade wrote: “The Coalition of National Park Service Retirees is deeply concerned over major changes apparently shaping up at the Lyndon B. Johnson National and State Historical Parks in Texas. They are common knowledge in communities near the park, as set forth in a recent PowerPoint presentation by the superintendent.”

As the Johnson administration ended in 1969, the former President and First Lady decided to donate the LBJ Ranch–the Texas White House–to the American people. They worked out the terms with National Park Service Director George B. Hartzog. On two conditions they were adamantly insistent: first, that the result would not be solely a national park but a partnership with the LBJ State Park across the Pedernales River opposite the ranch; second, that no fees be charged visitors for visiting the Texas White House.

George Hartzog crafted the plan, and a succession of national and state park managers ensured that it worked smoothly and successfully. “This is an outrageous betrayal,” declared former Director Hartzog, a member of CNPSR. He said that he had protested by telephone and letter to the present NPS Director Mary Bomar.

Melody Webb, superintendent of the national park from 1989 to 1992, recalled that “the partnership worked smoothly and effectively and met with the hearty encouragement of Mrs. Johnson.”

The main feature of the partnership was that visitors would come first to the state park, place their cars in the ample parking lot, receive a basic orientation about the parks, and board small tour buses driven by National Park Service interpreters for a tour of the national park. The tour included the Junction School, the reconstructed birthplace of Lyndon Johnson, the family cemetery where Lyndon and Lady Bird Johnson planned to be interred, the Texas White House complex, and the LBJ ranching complex.

The Texas White House complex included the ranch house itself (where after the President’s death Mrs. Johnson continued to live), assorted Secret Service and communications facilities, the aircraft hanger, and the long concrete runway where a smaller Air Force One landed after flying the President from the big Air Force One parked at the Bergstrom Air Force Base near Austin. The ranching complex consisted of show barns and other structures necessary for the cattle operation, together with LBJ’s cattle herd. The National Park Service would maintain this herd and perpetuate its progeny as a display for visitor edification.

The major changes apparently now contemplated would dissolve the partnership, in practical effect, if not formally. The ranch tours and the interpreters who drive the buses would be eliminated and the national park opened to autos and big tour buses. Without the state park as the point of departure for the ranch tours, most visitors would lose incentive to visit the state park. Moreover, the National Park Service intends to charge entrance and other fees to visitors to the ranch property, sharing none of the revenue with the state park.

In the CNPSR letter to Bomar, Wade also writes: “If carried out, this operational plan would continue the partnership only in the guise of ‘cooperation,’ thus destroying one of the most successful examples of a partnership in the history of the National Park Service–and this when a major Service initiative is the promotion of partnerships. It would clutter the national park with autos and buses and the expanded parking necessary to accommodate them, creating an intrusion on the historic scene severely damaging to the integrity of the national park–and this when a major NPS initiative is to eliminate autos from national parks. It would also unnecessarily duplicate infrastructure that already exists in the state park.

Finally, and perhaps most objectionable, the new plan would repudiate the explicit wishes of Lyndon and Lady Bird Johnson that a federal-state partnership characterize the parks and that visitors not be charged to experience them. It would plainly betray President and Mrs. Johnson as well as the Director who put the plan into effect, George Hartzog.

If what is recounted here is indeed the intent of the National Park Service, the Coalition urges that whatever changes may be decided not disturb the basic operational pattern of the partnership. The fundamentals that have proved so successful for nearly 40 years should remain in place.”

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Yellowstone Snowmobiles Record of Decision

jersu — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 02:00:00 -0600

NPS RETIREES: “DISGRACEFUL” YELLOWSTONE SNOWMOBILE DECISION THREATENS WORLD’S 1ST NATIONAL PARK, UNDERMINES U.S. COMMITMENT TO CONSERVING HERITAGE

Snowmobile Decision Overrides Science and Law, Reflects Failure of Administration to Uphold Its Vow to Put Conservation First in National Parks

WASHINGTON, D.C.//November 20, 2007// National Park Service (NPS) leadership has made a shocking stewardship decision in the latest chapter of a 10-year investigation of snowmobile impacts in Yellowstone National Park, ignoring scientific findings that have cost taxpayers over $10 million and setting up a return in the country’s oldest national park to greater levels of snowmobile air and noise pollution and mistreatment of wildlife, according to the 620-member Coalition of National Park Service Retirees (CNPSR).

If it stands, the NPS decision announced today would determine for years to come what visitors will experience in their winter trips into the famous wonderland of geysers and wildlife established by Congress in 1872 as the world’s first national park. A “Record of Decision” signed today by NPS Regional Director Mike Snyder would allow a daily limit of 540 snowmobiles in Yellowstone.

In a Final Environmental Impact Statement made public in September, the National Park Service disclosed that this level of snowmobile use would increase snowmobile exhaust, noise problems and traffic-related disturbance of wildlife far beyond the levels scientists monitored in Yellowstone during the past four winters when an average of 250 snowmobiles entered the Park each day. The National Park Service disclosed that allowing 540 snowmobiles per day would:

Nearly triple the area in Yellowstone where visitors will hear snowmobiles over half the visiting day, from the current average of 21 square miles to nearly 63 square miles— compromising at more of the Park’s popular attractions the opportunity to hear subtle sounds such as erupting geysers and bubbling mud pots;
Reject the advice of wildlife scientists and place Yellowstone’s winter-stressed animals at greater risk. Scientists recommended capping or further reducing vehicular traffic from the reduced levels they studied between 2003 and 2006, which they determined were more protective of wildlife. Snowmobile numbers during this period averaged 258 per day. The Record of Decision’s allowable limit of 540 snowmobiles per day exceeds the scientists’ recommendation by over 100 percent.
Throw Yellowstone’s improving winter air quality into reverse. The choice of 540 snowmobiles per day would increase carbon monoxide, hydrocarbon and particulate pollution beyond what it has been the past several winters and result in over three times more carbon monoxide and 13 times more hydrocarbon emissions than a full transition from snowmobile to snowcoach access would produce.

Maureen Finnerty, a member of the Coalition’s Executive Council and former NPS Associate Director for Operations said, “Only a year ago there was a fight for the ‘very soul of the National Park Service’ in order to assure it had management policies that reflected law and upheld the Agency’s fundamental mission to conserve the national parks. The NPS displayed uncommon valor in working with concerned parties to assure that this policy framework was not discarded. NPS Director Bomar and Secretary of the Interior Kempthorne pledged their support of these policies and vowed that conservation of resources would remain the top priority in America’s national parks. It was the right pledge. Yet the first real application of the ‘gains’ made in that success betrays those who fought so hard on behalf of the American public. This decision does not adhere to those policies nor will it inspire those in the agency who fought so hard to prevent the management policies from being dismantled.”

Monitoring has shown while Yellowstone’s actual level of snowmobile use since 2003 has averaged 250 to 290 snowmobiles per day, noise has exceeded thresholds that Yellowstone established to ensure visitors’ opportunities to enjoy natural sounds and quiet. NPS scientists have determined that if the number of snowmobiles increases to as many as 540 per day, snowmobile noise would not only grow significantly worse in more areas of the Park, but also would be concentrated at popular attractions and around travel corridors and consequently would affect “the areas most accessible to the vast majority of park visitors.”

“This is a decision that shatters all confidence in the ability of the National Park Service, under this Administration, to faithfully apply good science,” said Rob Arnberger, also a member of CNPSR’s Executive Council and a former Regional Director of the Alaska Region. “Officials have incorrectly asserted that the decision reflects the science, while their own scientists disagree. This is a decision that has twisted science to meet a political agenda. It is a shame that the National Park Service, which should be a national environmental leader, has selected an alternative that is not the best choice for Yellowstone’s air quality, wildlife and the quiet atmosphere that visitors ought to be able to enjoy. It is disgraceful that Yellowstone Park Superintendent Suzanne Lewis and Regional Director Mike Snyder have not met their stewardship responsibilities and have chosen to make a decision that derogates the resources of the world’s first national park in deference to those with narrow special interests.”

Since 1998, NPS scientists and planners have painstakingly verified scientific findings in an unprecedented three environmental impact statements and one environmental assessment that have cost taxpayers over $10 million. The Environmental Protection Agency independently reviewed each of these multi-hundred-page studies. In June 2007, EPA commented on Yellowstone’s improving health in four winters in which snowmobile use has averaged between 250 and 290 snowmobiles per day: “Today, vehicle numbers are reduced by two-thirds compared to historic use, resulting in improved air quality and soundscapes as well as reduced wildlife disturbance.” EPA cautioned that NPS’ plan to reverse Yellowstone’s trend of reduced winter traffic and allow a significant increase in snowmobile numbers “appears to lack adequate controls…to ensure the protection of air quality, human health, natural soundscapes, and wildlife…”

In March 2007, seven former Directors of the National Park Service who served presidents Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush and Clinton wrote to Secretary Kempthorne cautioning that NPS’ latest study confirmed that allowing Yellowstone’s current average of 250 snowmobiles per day to increase: “…would undercut the park’s resurgent natural conditions…The study also provides clear evidence that reducing snowmobile numbers still further—from 250 per day to zero—while expanding public access on modern snowcoaches, would further improve the park’s health.”

Hundreds of thousands of Americans have responded to invitations issued by NPS to comment on each of the studies. Consistently, four out of five commenters have expressed a preference that snowmobiles be phased out of Yellowstone in favor of the more environment-friendly, comfortable and economic snow coaches.

Bill Wade, chair of CNPSR’s Executive Council and a former superintendent of Shenandoah National Park said the decision is painful for career stewards of the National Park System. “Over 65 years ago, NPS Director Newton Drury admonished us all. He said ‘If we are going to succeed in preserving the greatness of the national parks, they must be held inviolate. They represent the last stands of primitive America. If we are going to whittle away at them we should recognize, at the very beginning, that all such whittlings are cumulative, and that the end result will be mediocrity.’ Today’s decision is a huge whittling – a deep, wounding slash even. We are extremely saddened that NPS Director Bomar failed to defend her pledge and courageously stand up and assure a decision that meets the intent of law and policy firmly established and prevailing since well before Director Drury. The American public has made it clear it wants national park resources vigorously protected, not compromised in deference to commercial or political interests. NPS management, from the Park Superintendent on up, has ignored those who own the parks. We will convey our concerns about this decision to Members of Congress.”

Wade added: “This is a decision that perpetuates uncertainty because it ignores law and science. It circumvents the conservation emphasis that has guided management of the national parks since the establishment of the National Park Service in 1916, which this Administration has repeatedly pledged to uphold. This decision needs to be dramatically corrected. It’s sad that this will take more time and more cost to taxpayers. That is the fault of failed leadership.”

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