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  1. #1
    Cultural Resource Destroying Speed Hiker
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    Default Bush Gang Itching to Loot National Parks

    Destroying the National Parks

    The New York Times | Editorial

    Monday 29 August 2005

    Most of us think of America's national parks as everlasting places, parts of the bedrock of how we know our own country. But they are shaped and protected by an underlying body of legislation, which is distilled into a basic policy document that governs their operation. Over time, that document has slowly evolved, but it has always stayed true to the fundamental principle of leaving the parks unimpaired for future generations. That has meant, in part, sacrificing some of the ways we might use the parks today in order to protect them for tomorrow.

    Recently, a secret draft revision of the national park system's basic management policy document has been circulating within the Interior Department. It was prepared, without consultation within the National Park Service, by Paul Hoffman, a deputy assistant secretary at Interior who once ran the Chamber of Commerce in Cody, WY, was a Congressional aide to Dick Cheney and has no park service experience.

    Within national park circles, this rewrite of park rules has been met with profound dismay, for it essentially undermines the protected status of the national parks. The document makes it perfectly clear that this rewrite was not prompted by a compelling change in the park system's circumstances. It was prompted by a change in political circumstances - the opportunity to craft a vision of the national parks that suits the Bush administration.

    Some of Mr. Hoffman's changes are trivial, although even apparently subtle changes in wording - from "protect" to "conserve," for instance - soften the standard used to judge the environmental effects of park policy.

    But there is nothing subtle about the main thrust of this rewrite. It is a frontal attack on the idea of "impairment." According to the act that established the national parks, preventing impairment of park resources - including the landscape, wildlife and such intangibles as the soundscape of Yellowstone, for instance - is the "fundamental purpose." In Mr. Hoffman's world, it is now merely one of the purposes.

    Mr. Hoffman's rewrite would open up nearly every park in the nation to off-road vehicles, snowmobiles and Jet Skis. According to his revision, the use of such vehicles would become one of the parks' purposes. To accommodate such activities, he redefines impairment to mean an irreversible impact. To prove that an activity is impairing the parks, under Mr. Hoffman's rules, you would have to prove that it is doing so irreversibly - a very high standard of proof. This would have a genuinely erosive effect on the standards used to protect the national parks.


    The pattern prevails throughout this 194-page document - easing the rules that limit how visitors use the parks and toughening the standard of proof needed to block those uses. Behind this pattern, too, there is a fundamental shift in how the parks are regarded. If the laws establishing the national park system were fundamentally forward-looking - if their mission, first and foremost, was protecting the parks for the future - Mr. Hoffman's revisions place a new, unwelcome and unnecessary emphasis on the present, on what he calls "opportunities for visitors to use and enjoy their parks."

    There is no question that we go to national parks to use and enjoy them. But part of the enjoyment of being in a place like Yosemite or the Grand Canyon is knowing that no matter how much it changes in the natural processes of time, it will continue to exist substantially unchanged.

    There are other issues too. Mr. Hoffman would explicitly allow the sale of religious merchandise, and he removes from the policy document any reference to evolution or evolutionary processes. He does everything possible to strip away a scientific basis for park management. His rules would essentially require park superintendents to subordinate the management of their parks to local and state agendas. He also envisions a much wider range of commercial activity within the parks.

    In short, this is not a policy for protecting the parks. It is a policy for destroying them.

    The Interior Department has already begun to distance itself from this rewrite, which it kept hidden from park service employees. But what Mr. Hoffman has given us is a road map of what could happen to the parks if Mr. Bush's political appointees are allowed to have their way.

    It is clear by now that Mr. Bush has no real intention of living up to his campaign promise to fully finance the national parks. This document offers a vivid picture of the divide between the National Park Service, whose career employees remain committed to the fundamental purpose of leaving the parks unimpaired, and an Interior Department whose political appointees seem willing to alter them beyond recognition, partly in the service of commercial objectives.

    Suddenly, many things - like the administration's efforts to force snowmobiles back into Yellowstone - seem very easy to explain

  2. #2
    •Completed A.T. Section Hike GA to ME 1996 thru 2003 •Donating Member Skyline's Avatar
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    What else would you expect from Shrub and Cheney?

  3. #3
    tideblazer
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    Default Bush voters take note

    I want to hear what the people on this site who voted for Bush think about this.

    I warned this pre-election, and all I got was grief about what a "strong leader" he is.

    So, are you accountable?
    www.ridge2reef.org -Organic Tropical Farm, Farm Stays, Group Retreats.... Trail life in the Caribbean

  4. #4

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Tha Wookie
    I want to hear what the people on this site who voted for Bush think about this.
    I don't, there is too much BS in the world already.

  5. #5
    Is it raining yet?
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    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Tha Wookie
    I want to hear what the people on this site who voted for Bush think about this.

    I warned this pre-election, and all I got was grief about what a "strong leader" he is.

    So, are you accountable?
    I'll wait for a more reliable source then the NY Times....
    Be Prepared

  6. #6

    Default This makes me very angry...

    I guess I'm one of a few who really has trouble identifying solidly with either party. I'm a fiscal conservative and a social liberal.

    On the liberal side, I want the government to step in and protect our natural resources and enforce environmental laws, especally from big business. I don't want the government in my personal life so I side with the dems on many civil liberity issues such as a women's right to choose and the seperation of church and state.

    On the other hand I'm not one of those who believe in "entitlements." I see lawyers and unions (the dems biggest supporters) as having destroyed ethics in this country. As much as I dislike Bush, I dislike Kerry and Edwards even more.

    I'm not sure how Kerry would have handled Iraq, (or anything for that matter) but I just can't accept our young people being killed over there...and why haven't we found the person responsible for 911?

    Yes, it bothers me to have voted for Bush. If given a choice like that again I may not vote.

  7. #7

    Default

    I alway take anything written as an opinion with a grain of salt. I also find it intresting that this guy has a copy of a "secrect" document. Or is it used to make this appear more devious. Also why was this written. Hoffman may have been, and probably was, one of many who wrote revisions of the Park's purpose. Shouldn't they look at things from different points of view, or should it be closed minded and only look at it from a single side. It does not mean it will be implemented.
    I would keep an eye on those guys up there in D.C. but also keep an eye on news paper opion pieces with an agenda.
    Profile '00
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  8. #8

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    Thumbs down

    Quote Originally Posted by Skeemer
    ... I see lawyers and unions (the dems biggest supporters) as having destroyed ethics in this country....
    What I see--> you've bought into the Republican, Chamber of Commerce, and insurance industry rhertoric and lies, lock, stock, and barrel.

    Unions and "trial lawyers" (see "Erin Brockovich") stand for the little guys against those who exalt the "love of money" (see I Timothy) above all else. I see what Christ Jesus preached.

    That's good ethics in my book. I see standing for the rich and powerful and corrupt and secret agendas as what destroys ethics.

    We don't see things the same way. That's what makes the world go round.

    RainMan

    .
    [I]ye shall not pollute the land wherein ye are: ... Defile not therefore the land which ye shall inhabit....[/I]. Numbers 35

    [url]www.MeetUp.com/NashvilleBackpacker[/url]

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  9. #9

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    Thumbs down

    Quote Originally Posted by PROFILE
    ... keep an eye on news paper opion pieces with an agenda.
    And the Bush cabal doesn't have agendas that put any newspaper's agenda to shame?

    Would you rather have the White House or the newspaper industry in charge of the information Americans get to read?

    RainMan

    .
    [I]ye shall not pollute the land wherein ye are: ... Defile not therefore the land which ye shall inhabit....[/I]. Numbers 35

    [url]www.MeetUp.com/NashvilleBackpacker[/url]

    .

  10. #10

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by BlackCloud
    I'll wait for a more reliable source then the NY Times....
    How about MSNBC?

    MSNBC
    Updated: 4:01 p.m. ET Aug. 26, 2005

    An association of retired National Park Service employees on Friday accused Bush administration political appointees of hijacking America’s national parks, saying a leaked Interior Department document shows a move to stress recreation and resource development over park preservation.

    http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9087265/

  11. #11
    Registered User
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    Default

    Start the drilling! We need more of that black gold.

  12. #12

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by L. Wolf
    Start the drilling! We need more of that black gold.
    Incorrigible.

    Yeah, we can have ATV tours of the oil rigs in Halliburton/Yellowstone Commercial National Park!

    Screw the griz, elk and buffalo!

  13. #13
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    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Skeemer
    I'm a fiscal conservative and a social liberal.

    On the liberal side, I want the government to step in and protect our natural resources and enforce environmental laws, especally from big business.
    No fiscal conservative would ever use the silly union-created term "big business."

    Quote Originally Posted by Skeemer
    I don't want the government in my personal life so I side with the dems on many civil liberity issues such as a women's right to choose and the seperation of church and state.
    I'm with you here.

    Quote Originally Posted by Skeemer
    I see lawyers and unions (the dems biggest supporters) as having destroyed ethics in this country.
    And here. Maybe not single-handedly, but they sure don't help.

    Quote Originally Posted by Skeemer
    I'm not sure how Kerry would have handled Iraq
    Hell, I'm not even sure how I would have handled it. Some questions just don't have good answers.

    Doug

    ps. I just love these hiking discussions.

  14. #14
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    Default

    Whack and stack the elk and buffalo. What a barbecue!

  15. #15

    Default

    You have something against bear meat? I hear it's delicious.

  16. #16
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    Default

    Didnt we just have this story on another thread a few days ago? Geez, some people just break out the koolaid cups at every opportunity.

  17. #17
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    Default

    Not fond of bear meat. Although I've only eaten black bear. Griz may be good.

  18. #18

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Skeemer
    I guess I'm one of a few who really has trouble identifying solidly with either party. I'm a fiscal conservative and a social liberal.

    On the liberal side, I want the government to step in and protect our natural resources and enforce environmental laws, especally from big business. I don't want the government in my personal life so I side with the dems on many civil liberity issues such as a women's right to choose and the seperation of church and state.

    On the other hand I'm not one of those who believe in "entitlements." I see lawyers and unions (the dems biggest supporters) as having destroyed ethics in this country. As much as I dislike Bush, I dislike Kerry and Edwards even more.

    I'm not sure how Kerry would have handled Iraq, (or anything for that matter) but I just can't accept our young people being killed over there...and why haven't we found the person responsible for 911?

    Yes, it bothers me to have voted for Bush. If given a choice like that again I may not vote.
    Skeemer, stop the distraction and put the blame squarely where it belongs - on the French.

  19. #19

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by digger51
    Didnt we just have this story on another thread a few days ago? Geez, some people just break out the koolaid cups at every opportunity.
    Koolaid, the drink of choice for BushCo apologist since 2001.

  20. #20
    tideblazer
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    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by L. Wolf
    Start the drilling! We need more of that black gold.
    Sure, wolf, bend over!
    www.ridge2reef.org -Organic Tropical Farm, Farm Stays, Group Retreats.... Trail life in the Caribbean

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