Monday, February 27, 2006

Another Meaningless Review: Unless You Are Concerned With Our National Parks

Crossroads in the National Parks

The Interior Department has extended the period in which the public may comment on the National Park Service's controversial plan to rewrite the management policies for the national parks.

But the extension was unnecessary, just as the rewrite itself is unnecessary. The public has already spoken and so have its elected representatives. Their central message is that the administration's proposed revisions will serve no one, least of all the parks, and that the Interior Department would be well advised to abandon the effort.


The main problem with the proposed revisions is that, taken together, they shift the management focus from the park service's central, historic mission — preserving natural resources for the enjoyment of future generations — to commercial and recreational use of the park for today's generation. As many members of the House and Senate have pointed out in letters to Interior Secretary Gale Norton, air quality and wilderness are especially at risk since the policy appears to invite greater use of snowmobiles and other off-road vehicles.

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