Environmentalists praise reversal of policy on parks

M.E. Sprengelmeyer, Rocky Mountain News

Tuesday, June 20, 2006

WASHINGTON - Environmentalists praised the Bush administration on Monday after the Interior Department scrapped controversial policy changes for managing the country's national parks.

New Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne changed course from his predecessor, Coloradan Gale Norton, announcing a revised draft of National Park Service management policies to make it clear that conserving natural resources takes priority.

"When there is a conflict between conserving resources unimpaired for future generations and the use of those resources, conservation will be predominant," Kempthorne said.

A 2005 version of the draft was a more wholesale rewrite of park management policies, which many environmentalists said would have opened national parks to vastly expanded recreation, development or other uses.

The revised text announced Monday largely reflects a 2001 policy that's still in place.

It preserves wording that allows managers to consider the effects that pollution outside a park is having on air quality within it. That's particularly important for Rocky Mountain National Park, where managers and state officials are working to protect against damage from smog.

The new draft also preserves language that includes "peace and tranquility" in the definition of natural conditions deserving protection, which allows managers to consider noise impacts from new projects.

"It's very encouraging to see, first of all, that we are back to amending in a more minor way the current policies, as opposed to (doing) a complete rewrite, which was, frankly, awful," said Ron Tipton, of the National Parks Conservation Association.

Rob Arnberger, of the Coalition of National Park Service retirees, said he thinks public and political pressure, and not necessarily a "sea change" within Interior, was the tipping point that led to Monday's decision.

"What we should see out of this is (that) when you mess with the parks, you're messing with a national heritage that will bring people to the front and bring (out) their concerns," he said.

Some of the same groups that often clashed with Norton, the former Colorado attorney general, praised Kempthorne's decision.

"It's a good day for the Yellowstones and the Grand Canyons, and let's hope it continues," said Kristen Brengel, of The Wilderness Society in Washington, D.C.

Chuck Clusen, of the Natural Resources Defense Council, credited Republican and Democratic lawmakers, including Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo., for reacting to public opposition to the earlier version.

"Americans really do care about their national parks, and they really speak up and take action when they perceive a threat to them," Clusen said.

Salazar, who will scrutinize the plan at a Senate subcommittee hearing Tuesday, called the revised draft "an encouraging step toward preserving our National Parks and protecting our national heritage."

The revised draft policy will be up for public comment in coming weeks.

The text of the new draft management policies can be seen online at http://parkplanning.nps.gov/waso