What You Don't See at Olympic (National) Park (Washington)

[kskiska]

Report Criticizing Bush Administration for Funding Shortage Has Not Been Released to Public

OLYMPIC NATIONAL PARK, Wash. -- A federal report says that a shortage of operating funds from the Bush administration is crippling this park, where 3.2 million people last year visited rain forests, alpine trails and one of the nation's longest wild coastlines.

"Core operations of the park are not funded sufficiently to meet the basic goals and mission of the park as defined by Congress," says the report, called the Olympic National Park Business Plan. It says the park receives only about half the money it needs.

But the business plan -- a detailed enumeration of the kind of chronic budget shortfalls that are forcing cutbacks in national parks across the United States -- has not been released to the public. Handsomely printed copies are gathering dust here at park headquarters.

A National Park Service official, who asked not to be identified out of fear of retaliation, said the report has not been released because the Bush administration "doesn't like bad news. They don't like to see or hear about it or fix it. And they punish the messenger."

more…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A56373-2004Jun20.html

[struggle4progress]

1. We really need some civil disobedience from gov't employees.

[kskiska]

2. They're scared of Bushco

"We are worried that some superintendents are not releasing the business plans for fear of retribution or criticism by the administration," said Tom Kiernan, president of the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA), a nonprofit advocacy group that monitors the nation's parks.

The superintendent at Gettysburg National Military Park was ordered by the Washington office of the Park Service to cancel a news conference that had been scheduled in the fall of 2002 to announce the park's business plan, which showed budget shortfalls. The plan was later made public on the park's Web site.

The Park Service canceled that news conference "not to hide the business plan," Sevy said, but because it believed that the NPCA might "go out there and say a lot of things that our superintendents aren't comfortable saying."

[Lucky Luciano]

3. A shame

I visited Olympic Nat'l Park a year and a half ago. It is a truly amazing place and a real treasure. Go if you have not already been there. Anyone who appreciates remoteness would like this place, although some of the logging operations nearby have left some devastated looking landscape.

[kskiska]

5. I was in the area about 10 years ago

The peninsula was beautiful, but it was heartbreaking to see the clear-cut logging areas – just acres and acres of nothing but stumps.

[Name removed]

8. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[jukes]

10. please...

AND they cause polution, too, don't they, 'dog?

[cap]

12. can we get pictures of this...

eom

[kskiska]

13. Here's one

[stevedeshazer]

4. On a related note

Cuts sink Crater Lake programs

For decades rangers at Crater Lake National Park have offered visitors a full menu of free daily guided hikes and nightly talks about the park's natural history.

Not anymore.

Rangers this summer will present fewer such public programs than in any year in recent memory as evaporating budgets erode nature programs that were once a centerpiece of national park services.

"It's one of the traditional activities that has historically been part of a visit to a national park," said Crater Lake Superintendent Chuck Lundy. "We have seen, progressively, these opportunities in decline."

Oregon's signature national park is not struggling alone. Olympic, Yosemite and Yellowstone are this season addressing shortfalls, variously, by cleaning restrooms less often, using corporate donations to fund staff, and charging fees for ranger hikes. These parks felt the squeeze before the Bush administration took office, but money has tightened even as President Bush pledged to shore up the parks and declared "They need to be a point of pride for our country."

source: http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/1087473500214950.xml

[rumguy]

6. Bush: Enemy of our National Parks

I want to see that meme get attached to him...

[0rganism]

7. National Parks are not profitable for timber and mining interests

therefore, they have no place in the new conservative land-use policies.

Better get some snowmobiles in there, or there's gonna be a clearcut.

[PROUDNWLIBERAL]

9. Trees

I grew up on the Olympic Peninsula, and the west end has had the hell cut out of it. They are now taking trees that would not have been thought to be cut back in the sixties---they are so small. As to renewable you need to take a look at the area---steep ground and thin forest soil with high rainfall---spells trouble. Greed raped the woods. Just a side note: Wasn't it under Reagan that fees for entering the National Parks started being applied.

[pnb]

14. Actually, that happened during the mid-90s

Sounds like trouble in your area though.

[nose pin]

15. Correct

Here is a recent article:

http://www.usatoday.com/travel/news/2004-06-21-park-fees_x.htm

Permanent fees proposed for visitors to national parks, forests

Posted 6/21/2004 7:59 AM

WASHINGTON (AP) — Fees to hike, swim or camp at national forests or parks could become permanent to pay for repaving access roads, replacing boat docks and other maintenance and improvements.
Visitors are charged fees now at some places, including the Grand Canyon, Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument and the Wayne National Forest in southeast Ohio, through a pilot program started in 1996.

snip...

[Kolesar]

11. This is a great way to stop environmental education--cut the budget

The GOP would rather have us believing the non-science that they bring out. There is no global warming. Trees cause smog. The earth was created in seven days.

[bloom]

16. It is (was?) a beautiful park

:grr: