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60 Minutes : The Age of Megafires

Oct 23rd - 09:02am | Lone Hiker

I think your beliefs regarding the burial ceremonies are pretty secure. Thanks for the added info. But these communities who are against periodic smoke inhalation have no high ground, moral or otherwise.

Oct 23rd - 07:43am | Lone Hiker

Again, just one more item...

Oct 23rd - 07:06am | Lone Hiker

Sorry about that sir. Guess I should refer back to the list once in a while when responding. The Smokey reference was actually directed slightly above you, back to Frank and Anon. My error, and apology.

Oct 22nd - 20:43pm | Lone Hiker

I can't find it in me to find fault with the aspect of overtime pay, and Frank is wholeheartedly right in stating that these people EARN their money. You're damn right it can be lucrative, but the risks associated with the job and the physical nature of the beast only serve to lend support to the overtime payscale.

Oct 22nd - 16:51pm | Anonymous

Lone Hiker-

Oct 22nd - 16:10pm | Lone Hiker

First, I don't consider the $11-14/hr rate that the government pays qualifying as a lot of money by ANY standard. Second, I would have guessed that the folks at Berkeley intelligent enough to lend some REAL insight that was truly significant, not something that most anyone could have predicted in the typical cause and effect scenario.

Oct 22nd - 15:30pm | Anonymous

Two things: 1) Get rid of Smokey the Bear 2) Fire people make a lot of money every summer....

Director Bomar: Let Science, Not Politics, Decide the Yellowstone Snowmobile Issue

Oct 23rd - 08:15am | jsmacdonald

Lone Hiker,

Oct 23rd - 00:21am | Lone Hiker

Science can indeed be classified as either good, insofar as being soundly researched and executed, or poor, referring to it being targeted toward a specific agenda or hypothesis, but I would tread lightly around the term proven. Even a preponderance of evidence doesn't automatically qualify as proven beyond a given measure.

Oct 22nd - 23:31pm | jsmacdonald

I don't particularly have a strong opinion on the science because I'm woefully ignorant of those things. It is interesting to read the conflicting views on the science, but I'm usually not in the business of arguing about things I don't pretend to know. This is helpful information.

Oct 22nd - 22:11pm | Anonymous

What amazes me, this big beautiful country called Yellowstone, is why would anybody want to bring all this motorized crap into the park during the winter. There's something very peaceful and full of blessed solace about Yellowstone in the winter, but why can't we leave it that way, and just enjoy the simple things that the park has to offer.

Oct 22nd - 17:47pm | repanshek

Jim, in answer to your first question, yes, snowcoaches would be less-polluting than snowmobiles.

Oct 22nd - 17:21pm | jsmacdonald

First a scientific question. Do snowcoaches actually reduce pollution? I keep reading on another blog of someone who studies this stuff that they don't. Her preference: plow the roads. Secondly, an ethical question. Do we really want scientists making value-laden decisions? Does science ever answer values questions?

Oct 22nd - 12:00pm | Lone Hiker

Bureaucrats operating without an encyclopedic charter? Sorry, those two things just can't co-exist Frank. If management were to seriously attempt to exist without the ability to deflect culpability (a.k.a. responsibility), where would they be? It reminds me of an old comedy routine explaining the difference between accepting responsibility and accepting blame.

Oct 22nd - 09:18am | Lone Hiker

Just one other little thing..... "I do feel the Park Service has always monitored, inventoried, and studied their resources and know more about their resources than we've ever know," Director Bomar told me last week in Austin. "We just need to listen and we need to implement their recommendations."

Oct 22nd - 08:56am | Lone Hiker

Posted October 16th, 2007:

What is YOUR Favorite Park Experience?

Oct 22nd - 20:26pm | Anonymous

I agree - this is a REALLY tough decision - there are SO many!

Oct 21st - 12:11pm | bj

Wow, this is tough.

Oct 21st - 10:13am | Jason

Picking one experience is difficult, but there is one that stands out in my mind: my first view of Delicate Arch in Arches NP. I had spent the previous two days in the park, hiking and photographing the surreal formations, as well as building myself up for the hike to Delicate Arch. The hike itself was awesome; climbing the steep slickrock slope was a great challenge with terrific views.

Oct 20th - 13:24pm | Anonymous

My second trip to the Grand Canyon, when I made it down 1.5 miles and back with my best girlfriend from college. Truely a life changing experience that made me promise to come back when my sons are in their teens and make it all the way to the bottom and back. Lisa

Oct 20th - 00:45am | Yellowstone Junkie

Snowmobiling in Yellowstone!!

Oct 19th - 13:59pm | Ed

My wife and I were planning a trip to Isle Royale, but then she was in a car accident and didn't feel up to carrying a pack for a week. We "settled" for a trip to Yellowstone. One of the most enjoyable parts was a hike up to some petrified tree trunks. It is not on the trail map, but the rangers gave us a photocopy of a hand drawn map.

Groups Sue Cape Hatteras National Seashore Over ORV Traffic

Oct 22nd - 11:23am | Anonymous

Roger my man, it's not anger, but fire in the belly for what is right and just. Ripping up the public beachs for self amusement with oil dripping ORV's makes any rational human being subject to anger.

Oct 21st - 23:54pm | Roger

My, my anonymous ("Get your fat butts")...such anger! Calm down and go watch a Disney movie or somethin'! LOL...doom and gloom, thats all you enviros spout.

Oct 21st - 16:37pm | Tony

I agree with ya Theresa, they are particularly onerous for small business owners and the building industry. There are many groups working to overturn them (or at least skirt 'em), as they do nothing for the environment, only fatten the wallets of attorneys and politicians.

Oct 21st - 16:02pm | Anonymous

Get your fat butts out of your toy ORV's and wake up and smell the coffee. This fragile beach area is not a babies play pen to screw around in and make huge doughnuts and ruts all day in your oil dripping OVR's. If your such a gas guzzeling hot rod Harry, with no concern for the enivornment in which your destroying, may I suggest such area's as Crawford Texas.

Oct 21st - 15:17pm | Anonymous

You are totally nuts!

Oct 21st - 14:41pm | Theresa

We need to get rid of a lot of there worthless, overbearing enviro rules like the "Organic Act" and NEPA...let the taxpayer decide these issues...put it up for a vote.

Oct 21st - 14:37pm | Anonymous

The sand soaks up what little oil leaks from vehicles. Remember, we are part of the ecosystem, not apart from it, envirowhackers. Humans were there before any wildlife.

Oct 21st - 09:11am | Romeolin

It's disturbing to see a beautiful beach get ruined by ORV's. Fumes and oil spills endanger that environment and the wildlife that have the right to be there. There are plenty other places for ORV's to run rampant, such as woodland trails made specifically for that interest group. This is an abuse of nature. Besides, wildlife was there long before ORV's were invented.

Jumping Off Bridge an Annual Tradition in New River Gorge

Oct 22nd - 10:49am | Lone Hiker

Just curious Jeremy.....ever considered jumping out of a perfectly good airplane from between 5-10,000'? Most people classify us as certified loonies for that manuever as well, but BOY does that get the epinephrine circulating! From my perspective, at an altitude of only 876' you don't quite enough time to enjoy the surroundings before splashdown.

Oct 22nd - 09:49am | repanshek

Unfortunately, not all jumps go as planned. Last year a BASE jumper died when his chute didn't open until he was only about 25 feet above the river.

Leadership Summit: Building For the Future

Oct 21st - 18:53pm | Bart (aka Infla...

The other day I was talking to a community member who was lamenting the lack of knowledge NPS staff have of their own parks. Citing the most recent of many examples, he asked an entrance station employee (and one who'd been working there for several years) a simple question about the wildlife.

Oct 21st - 13:31pm | Anonymous

You all rock. Thanks for posting, for thinking and for not being sheep. Heh. This thread has made my day for some unknown reason. Even if you all disagree on what needs to be done, we agree something needs to be done.

Oct 20th - 15:58pm | Bart (aka Micha...

Firstly, let me again commend Beamis, Frank & others for challenging the status quo at higher levels. Such dialog is essential. For my purposes, I've chosen to attack the problem at the park level, by offering some simple, common sense solutions that I believe will help to get the NPS back on track.

Oct 20th - 14:13pm | Random Walker

Some unthoughtful, unedited and mindful mosey meanderings…

Oct 20th - 11:54am | Anonymous

No Random! I't's corporate America and the media...and the rich & the powerful. Rome lives on!

Oct 20th - 11:21am | Random Walker

What, or who, is behind the failures of the current political system? We the people

Oct 20th - 09:18am | Lone Hiker

Kurt-

Oct 20th - 00:50am | Anonymous

Ohhhhhhh, Bart! Oh, Oh, we can't wait! *dripping with sarcasm* Do you have an inflated sense of self-importance (aka Michael Moore), perhaps?

Oct 19th - 19:44pm | Bart

The best thing about this forum is that people like Beamis, Frank & others, who dare to speak "blasphemy" against the sacred service, can't be swept under the rug. This is all too often the case when "disgruntled" employees attempt to challenge the system in NPS meetings, usually dominated by those who are content to think and speak in step with the horde.

Oct 19th - 19:27pm | Anonymous

Beamis- I have worked both seasonally for TNC and NPS and frankly, I don't see eye to eye with you on TNC's ability to effectively manage a large and/or small but heavily used unit of the NPS system. They aren't an organization that manages for recreation, they manage as a private property owner that gets TONS AND TONS of donations (READ: CORPORATE MARKETING BY ASSOCIATION!

Oct 19th - 15:43pm | repanshek

Beamis, you're starting to sound like an anarchist, not a free-marketer;-)

Oct 19th - 13:26pm | Anonymous

Bermis, finally were getting somewhere instead of this anti everything. Some of your ideas do provoke good thought, but I do question in how we might set up such a non partisan commission (or God Squad) that will pick and choose who should go or stay in the NPS.

Oct 19th - 13:02pm | repanshek

Are you suggesting the free market would have banned snowmobiles from Yellowstone? And how would a private owner of a wilderness benefit if they didn't sell access?

Oct 19th - 11:11am | Anonymous

Kurt, you beat me to the punch with this one. Excellent response, it couldn't be better expressed.

Oct 19th - 11:06am | Anonymous

Frank, your intellectural wit slays me, but what do you advocate in fixing the NPS system...since you've been there? I can quote from great books (like you) and refute much in what Thoreau had to say about "Civil Disobedience", but that's not my bag...parks and kids are!

Oct 19th - 11:04am | repanshek

Frank, you're incredibly adept at tossing stones, some of which are more on target than others. But please put down your slingshot and take a minute to tell us how the national parks and wilderness areas should be managed without the government. As one other has noted, the current system ain't perfect, but it's a lot better than most, and I currently don't see any viable alternative.

Top 10 Most Visited National Parks

Oct 20th - 22:51pm | Anonymous

It's easy to see how GSMNP is so popular when you consider that the majority of the country's population is east of the Mississippi and factor in vacation time contraints. Another factor is the proximity to the Blue Ridge Parkway. (Two birds with one stone.)

The Consequences of the Legal Bear Hunt in Katmai

Oct 20th - 07:55am | Jeff

In my youth I was an avid hunter and I can attest to the attraction of the sport. The tracking, the beauty of the woods, finding the animal and making a clean kill. These things can be challenging and take skill, especially when done with a bow. The animal populations being hunted knew they were being

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