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Parties in the Parks: Much Ado About Nothing?

Jul 25th - 20:10pm | Beamis

It's a pity the agency does not have the Haunted Hiker as its current director, God love her.

Jul 25th - 19:30pm | haunted hiker

Frank, I be quite cynical concerning the way the NPS is managing parks, but the NPS has NOT "failed miserably" as you suggest.

Jul 25th - 17:47pm | repanshek

Beamis, your comments are much appreciated. As for donating to the cause, we're not quite ready to go down that road, but that day might not be far off so stay tuned.

Jul 25th - 16:58pm | Beamis

Kurt y'all are doing a great job of offering a ground breaking website to further much needed dialogue. It is much appreciated. Where can I send a contribution? Remember I'm a free market capitalist and would love to voluntarily support your efforts with a free will offering of monetary support.

Jul 25th - 16:08pm | repanshek

Frank, This is just the latest issue at hand. There have been plenty of posts over the months addressing practices that run contrary to the Organic Act. Just look at the many posts on snowmobiles in Yellowstone, personal watercraft in parks and seashores, ORVs in Big Cypress, and power boats in Everglades, just to name the ones that come immediately to mind.

Jul 25th - 15:58pm | Frank

I'm of the opinion that these events were nothing more than corporate parties totally out of character with the mission the Park Service has promised to uphold on our behalf. The "mission" of the NPS is/was to leave places unimpaired, and they've failed miserably in keeping that promise.

Jul 25th - 14:41pm | ArizonaTraveler

My guess is that if you polled 100 different National Park Service supporters as to which units they feel do not belong in the NPS system, you could easily get 100 different answers, with nearly as many well-conceived supporting arguments.

Jul 25th - 14:29pm | jersu

The cultural resources protected by the park are as important as its natural resources. I agree with an earlier comment that it is a pointless exercise to pit one park against another for a battle between national significance. When the parks were established, either through Presidential Proclamation or as an act of Congress, they were deemed to be important.

Jul 25th - 14:05pm | kath

On the other hand, the Nature Conservancy protects it's portion of Santa Cruz Island so well that it's very difficult for the average person to visit. That part of Santa Cruz Island is no doubt in good hands but I've never been there although I go out to the Channel Islands at least once a year.

Jul 25th - 12:19pm | haunted hiker

Beamis. God love ya. Keep it up. Your voice and perspective are refreshing!

Jul 25th - 11:53am | kath

Since California sends much more to the federal government than we get back, having the Santa Monica Mountains preserved by the federal government is at least a drop in the bucket of having the taxes we send to Washington come back.

Jul 25th - 11:39am | Frank

I personally am ashamed of the criminal theft of places such as the Tetons ... and Shenandoah... And I'm ashamed of the Fed's theft of the Modoc homeland (Lava Beds) so ranchers could graze cows, the theft of the Klamath's sacred Crater Lake, and the theft of the Black Hills so we could blast the images of our presidents into sacred stone.

Jul 25th - 10:45am | Beamis

The consensus, from the comments so far, is for a strong national government that is indespensible to our ability to "function effectively as a great and civilized place to live". What would we do without them? Devolve into barbarism?

Jul 25th - 10:15am | Bob Mackreth

"Who'd a thunk that in 1916, when the the NPS began, that Americans such as Merryland would be clamoring for the inclusion of such places as lumber mills and steel making plants?"

Jul 25th - 10:07am | lepanto

Mr. Beamis -- you invite us to call you 'old fashioned.' Your view is pre-constitutional. Had we relied on local communities, we Tetons would not have been preserved, just to name one.

Jul 25th - 08:28am | Beamis

"I also think the Park Service should include a steel mill and lumber mill in its list of historic sites before they're all dismantled and the scrap parts sold off to the Chinese."

Jul 24th - 21:03pm | Merryland

Rocky Horror Picture Show was supposed to be fiction. This makes me ill. According to the news quotes and photos I've seen (there are lots on the web) there were a lot more than 750 people in attendance. According to the event organizer, he wished they had done a better job of restricting it to the people who were invited (he estimated over a thousand).

Jul 24th - 20:52pm | Merryland

Our family loved Steamtown. I also think the Park Service should include a steel mill and lumber mill in its list of historic sites before they're all dismantled and the scrap parts sold off to the Chinese.

Jul 24th - 20:39pm | kath

Speaking for the 'urban' park in L. A., that is the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area. It is mountainous terrain between the San Fernando Valley and Malibu. One of it's 'sites' is the old Paramount movie ranch still used for filming today. It is home to cougars, deer, bobcats and many varieties of raptors.

Jul 24th - 17:03pm | Beamis

"As long as we fight with each other, and belittle and trivialize the significance of this or that park, rather than fight for enough funding in this rich country for all the parks, Congress has an excuse not to fund;"

Jul 24th - 11:03am | lepanto

It is ridiculous to say or think that the Charlestown Navy Yard is not nationally significant, and should not be in the System. It is a major piece of American history, both as a functioning, major navy base and shipbuilding site since 1800 and the home of the USN Constitution (one of the sensational frigates that stunned the world and England in the War of 1812).

Jul 24th - 10:00am | Frank

I would rather see half naked men and women in Alcatraz than hear a car alarm in a giant sequoia grove.

Jul 24th - 09:25am | Art Allen

In my opinion there should be a certain amount of decorum, dignity, and reserve associated with the national park areas. One can have "fun and enjoyment" in an environment replete with education, inspiration, and respect. Parks should not try to be all things to all people; there are venues available for cocktail parties and performance art, but not within the parks.

Jul 24th - 06:07am | Dorothy

Isn't the draw of a national park or area the national park or area itself? I think it is time to rethink where we are trying to go. We are a society that has learned to want "entertainment" at every moment hence our need for tvs in our suvs. Enough already. You don't need to draw in gen x with a Vegas night club act on historical and protected grounds. They have an outlet for that.

Jul 23rd - 12:49pm | Anonymous

this is a great subject and thanks for bringing it up, kurt. i am against these sort of events, but have to ask the question "what else are they going to do?" if the events do not net any profits, then dump them. but as far as fundraising park administrators rising through the ranks, in my estimation, the bathrooms have to get cleaned somehow.

Jul 23rd - 11:43am | Beamis

It becomes confusing when what is allowed in a historic prison cell-block, by establishing a service-wide precedent, could be applied to Cades Cove or Hayden Valley. It's frrightening really.

Jul 23rd - 11:26am | repanshek

I wholeheartedly agree with Beamis' point that there are some questionable units of the national park system. Unfortunately, it seems more congressfolk want to have a park of any kind in their district than want to adequately fund the park system, which, really, is at the root of the problem.

Zion Fire Complex Nearing 10,000 Acres, Yellowstone Fire Grows

Jul 25th - 12:13pm | Mookie

Looks like rain in Zion has knocked back their fires quite a bit. The latest report shows it over 80% contained, and they've reopened the part of the backcountry that wasn't affected.

Adventure Seeking in Yosemite with YouTube

Jul 25th - 03:42am | Marc

I did the same trip in June 1990 and thought it was crowded back then. And we were by far less then half the people seen in this video clip. There were wide gaps in the line on the cables, and certainly no queue before you got to the cables. Or maybe we were just earlier in the day - judging from sun and shadows. Yosemite Valley and the day trips from there are places of mass tourism.

Jul 24th - 21:38pm | Art Allen

Anyone who might think that parks are not overcrowded should take a look at this video of the half-dome hike. The mass of humanity clinging to that cable is absolutely amazing. Thanks for bringing the video to our attention.

Just Another Snake Story

Jul 24th - 19:11pm | Merryland

Florida is one giant exotic species nature preserve gone awry. I remember one day at the Visitor Center at the 'Glades seeing a parakeet hanging out with a gaggle of sparrows. The poor little guy was certainly lost, but seemed to find some solace in the group of similar-sized birds with similar needs.

Jul 24th - 13:20pm | jersu

That photo is enough to give me nightmares.

Time Running Out to Comment on Everglades Management Plan

Jul 24th - 12:29pm | ROBERT

I was raised in Florida and I have seen so much of thats states natural resources be exploited for money.

Friends of Dick Proenneke

Jul 24th - 12:23pm | eilkso

hello kurt, Thank You for the commentary here on NPS about the new Friends of Dick Proenneke mailinglist over at YahooGroups. your NPS is a well done, impressive site and i have added it to my favorites for regular visiting. :) thanks, again! regards, eilkso

Private Party At Charlestown Navy Yard Doesn't Lack Alcohol

Jul 24th - 11:55am | WhyNotAmelia

One reason for problems at Charlestown (both management of the events and the funding return to the park) is because the park chose to use a cooperative agreement to do this deal. Congress obviously intended park superintendent's to use concessiions for this sort of thing. read the 1998 concessions law and it is clearly implied.

Bringing Color to the Public Lands Landscape

Jul 24th - 09:51am | Anonymous

Why don't you two just get a room and get it over with???

Jul 24th - 05:50am | jsmacdonald

Okay, we can pick this up another time. One of my favorite philosophers is G.W. Leibniz, a contemporary of Locke, and he disagreed with Locke on so many things. He actually wrote a dialogue called New Essays on Human Understanding that reads more like a blow by blow response to Locke's An Essay Concerning Human Understanding.

Jul 23rd - 23:15pm | Ranger_X

Jim, Thank you and I'm sorry for my sarcasm. I'm weary of the discussion and will just agree to disagree. Let me first add a bit of clarification or whatever. I lean toward libertarian and free market, not only in economics but in science.

Jul 23rd - 21:34pm | jsmacdonald

I'm sorry if you took what I was saying as patronizing; I apologize. Are we really talking about knowledge when we are talking about anything empirical? I don't think so. It's all subject to induction, which is always at most probable.

Jul 23rd - 20:29pm | Ranger_X

Jim, When someone else uses the exact same words and the exact same phrasing I used and then uses the word "pretend", well, that's quite hard not to take personally.

Jul 23rd - 19:24pm | jsmacdonald

I have no idea what Mr. Hare has to say about this, but I have plenty of my own thoughts on these remarks.

Jul 23rd - 16:28pm | Beamis

Ranger X you're priceless!

Jul 23rd - 16:10pm | Ranger_X

Mr. Hare has taken several thinly-veiled slams at me. The first instance referenced people who "pretend that they lost their job because of somebody else's need to hire a diverse staff." This was clearly in reference to my previous statement, "I was 'diversified' out of a job at SEKI.

Jul 23rd - 16:07pm | Beamis

"And more importantly, why, after 600 years of being together, we choose to be so separate from each other while maintaining so much suspicion, animosity, and ignorance of the other."

Jul 23rd - 15:14pm | Wayne Hare

Kath and others who think I am recommending that the Park Service or some government agency do something to address diversity: I’m not suggesting any NPS or government program. Nothing I wrote had anything to do with any government program. I would like to see people of all colors, including the color white, not buying into myths and stereotypes perpetrated by Marlboro, Hollywood, and etc.

Jul 23rd - 12:54pm | kath

The reason I asked the author of the article to specify what the NPS should be doing is that he raised that very question. (A question he never answered.) He says in paragaph 2, that the NPS is looking into ways to boost 'diversity' among park visitors. Perhaps the NPS could host private parties inviting the 'right' demographic. (She says sarcastically).

Top 10 Most Visited National Parks

Jul 23rd - 21:46pm | Merryland

Great observation Felicia -- there are a number of parks that simply shut down a big chunk of their operation once the Bush adminstration decided maintenance was the number one NPS priority.

Jul 23rd - 13:53pm | Felicia

I was wondering why Frederick Law Olmsted NHS was a least visited park since it is in an urban, and one would assume fairly accessible, location. Is it related to the park closing? Per the NPS website: "Frederick Law Olmsted NHS is currently CLOSED to visitors in order to carry out a construction project involving park buildings, grounds and collections.

Jul 23rd - 12:05pm | Glenn Scofield ...

I'm always gut-punched when I read these kinds of stats. I'm unsure how Great Smoky Mountains survives hosting nine million people in the course of a year. Even with the majority being drive-throughs or tour buses, this is an unbelievable amount of footprints in that area.

Rocky Mountain Trying to Give Wetlands A Chance Against Elk

Jul 23rd - 11:22am | Claire Walter

We went hiking this weekend on RMNP's Cow Creek Trail. McGraw Ranch, once a guest ranch and now part of the park's building inventory, is now a research facility reached by a small bridge across the creek. The beavers have been busy a short way upstream from the bridge.

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