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Around The Parks: Vandals, Occupiers And Cyclists

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As the government shutdown drags into its second week, there are increasing risks of vandalism in the National Park System and possibly even poaching, according to past National Park Service personnel.

And in some parks, visitors are simply ignoring "closed" signs and heading off into the landscape. That was the case at Acadia National Park this past weekend, and one of the park's visitors needed to be hauled out to safety on a litter after injuring herself.

The woman was one of crowds of visitors who entered the park despite the closure signs and barricades. Many pedaled off down the Carriage Paths, while this 69-year-old Portland, Maine, visitor fell while hiking on Flying Mountain. 

Ranger Ed Pontbriand, one of just four rangers on duty in Saturday, told the Bangor Daily News that trying to keep visitors out of Acadia was like "herding ants."

Out on the West Coast, meanwhile, vandals have hit Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, where they cut open locks to gates barring entry to the recreation area in California. Though seemingly innocuous, NRA officials were concerned that visitors unaware of the closure could find themselves deep in canyons where they could be trapped by wildfires. Southern California currently is at high risk of fires due to dry conditions and hurricane-force winds, according to Weather.com.

"October is notorious for California wildfires," says Weather.com meteorologist Jon Erdman. "The largest wildfires on record in the state was the Cedar Fire in San Diego County in October 2003, charring 273,000 acres, over 2800 structures, and claiming 14 lives."

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Photo by David Graves, NPCA.

Meanwhile, a Springdale, Utah, businessowner frustrated with the closure of Zion National Park organized an "Occupy Zion" protest to raise attention to the loss of business.

"Obviously, I’m not too happy about it," James Milligan, owner of Zion Outfitter, told the Salt Lake Tribune. "This shop is my livelihood here and I haven’t had a customer in a week. Rangers will get their backpay, but what will people in these communities get?"

Across the National Park System, the absence of rangers leave the parks targets for vandals, according to Alan O’Neill, who is retired now but was superintendent of Lake Mead National Recreation Area during the last government shutdown, in 1995-96.

"In the past, when we didn’t have eyes and ears out there and volunteers and others, we experienced tremendous vandalism. We experienced gang assembly in some of the areas closest to Los Vegas," he recounted during a phone call Friday. "The vandalism just increased incredibly during those times. Sometimes we don’t think about that, but people are not happy. And angry people do strange things. We found sledge hammers (taken) to the bathroom toilets, and the mess that we had to clean up after that. That’s what you’ve got to expect, and I expect that’s going to happen this time."

Dennis Schramm, who was superintendent of Mojave Desert National Preserve during the last shutdown, agreed.

“In the Mojave, the biggest concern is in the backcountry where you don’t have control of every road coming into the preserve, and you don’t have enough eyes and ears out there," he said. "There are cultural resources, natural resources. We’ve had cactus poaching in the past, deer poaching, so there’s a number of things that can go on and you don’t have enough eyes out there to keep an eye on it."

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Photo by Tim Stevens, NPCA.

While sportsmen's groups are concerned that the ongoing shutdown will imperil hunting seasons, there also are concerns that hunters on lands that are open and adjacent to national parks could stray into them, unknowingly or otherwise, and take park wildlife.

With park staffs reduced by furloughs, those units with elk, deer and other hunting prey lack the resources to adequately patrol boundaries during hunting season. While they do have boundary patrols occuring, those resources have been diminished by furoughs, one park ranger told the Traveler.

 

Comments

I think a permit for a rally on the National Mall, in which some 30 Members of Congress(from both of the 2 major parities) planning to attend or speak at, probably cannot be denied by the Park Service. I hope the permit required Porta-Johns, because that rally seems to be on 10th Street and is probably nearly a mile to the closest open restroom facilities(Ronald Reagan Building foodcourt at 12th & Pennsylvania).


Cute Kurt... Congress is a co-equal branch of government with the Executive. Fiscal bills must originate in the House. The House is under no obligation to pass anything requested by the Executive...

Politics is the art of Compromise and we will eventually have some level of Compromise. The President is in an untenable position. He will eventually negotiate some of this. Until he decides to compromise he is using the powers of his administration (perhaps directly, but more likely through a Corps of like minded bureaucrats) to bludgeon the people of the United States. It's nice to be King... but then we don't have a King do we?


Mike, tell that to the Speaker;-)

Couple of tidbits from today's news:

* Rep. Devin Nunes, a conservative Republican from California's Central Valley, on Monday accused freshman GOP Sen. Ted Cruz of misleading House Republicans that they could dismantle the Democratic health care-reform law known as Obamacare by forcing a government shutdown.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/onpolitics/2013/10/07/nunes-cruz-shutdown-...

*Americans blame Republicans for the partial government shutdown, two new polls find as the budget standoff veers closer to the deadline for raising the nation's $16.7 trillion debt limit.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2013/10/07/government-shutdo...

I'm all for negotiating, but the current state of affairs sounds like extortion. With the world's economy at stake. What were these guys doing during the summer?


Just to add my 2 cents worth. The NPS's policy in a shut down should be "what do we have to close and what can we keep open? No administration should use the NPS as a politcal tool. Closing even one thing that isn't necessary like the Pisgah Inn or the National Mall is tyrannical.

PS first time posting in a long while, glad to see that wierd thing I always had to guess the letters in gone. Thanks


Mike G - If it's true that "Politics is the art of Compromise," it unfortunately seems to be a lost art in Washington these days.


probably cannot be denied by the Park Service.

And why would that be?


current state of affairs sounds like extortion.

Extoration? The house Republicans approve 99.+% of the CR but ask that Congress live by the Obamacare rules the public has to observe and that the individual mandate be delayed in line with the Corporate mandate delay and you call that extortion?

Tell me, which of those two requirements do you find unacceptable?


Next weeks planned actions for Mt Rushmore...

compliments of Powerline


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