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Reader Participation Day: Should More American-Made Products Be Available for Purchase in America's National Parks?

Sep 21st - 13:29pm | Not made in China

In the case of the Bay Bridge a spokesman said that using Made in USA Union labor to build the bridge would have been unaffordable.   You'd think that in "real world think" Unions would be more cooperative for the greater good.  The Martin Luther King Memorial, I believe, is managed by NPS.

Sep 21st - 12:15pm | Richard Smith

Since the Congressional gift shop only sells American made items, and I believe that American made items should be sold at gift shops at National Parks.  That does not include books though.  Things like Knick knacks, stuffed animals and clothing sold at NPS gift shops should be made in America, I believe.

Sep 21st - 11:45am | k d g

The more products from the USA we can sell, the better- especially in our National Parks.  But be careful what you ask for.  Products from the USA typically cost more, so we'd all have to be prepared for higher prices in the gift shop.  If that's OK, great- let's push for it!  Plus, the comment "We know that it's all about money.

Sep 21st - 11:18am | y_p_w

I don't typically buy a lot of expensive stuff from the gift shops, which is where you typically find "Made in USA" labels. I do remember seeing a lot of American-made products at various places at Mt Rainier. Then again, a bead trinket was made to look like native craft work, but was made in China. We do have some incense cedar boxes that were made by a supplier in Michigan.

Sep 21st - 10:40am | rdm24

It would be nice, but I wouldn't like to see a mandate against foreign products.

Sep 21st - 09:58am | danner

Jobs,jobs,jobs! We hear about the need to help the small business owner daily. Having a supplier here in America using local labor to produce products for our National Parks would be great. Have items made by local artisans and craftsmen available for purchase too.

Sep 21st - 09:26am | Not made in China

There is something about just wishing that more goods made in the US were available in our parks.  A while back a delegation including the head of the Chinese military visited South Rim.  Walking into the finest Native American/Mary Colter Designed retail store, the first thing he picked up, turned upside down and laughed out loud at seeing the "Made in China," logo.

Sep 21st - 09:05am | C.C.

I would like to see more local crafts sold in the National Park gift stores.  I do look to see where something is made because I purchase a locally made item as a souvenir.  Every park has local crafters in pottery, leather, wood or artists that would benefit from having the gift shops as a location for their products. The fact that the parks are filled with international visitors is an ideal s

Sep 21st - 08:47am | Ken

Yes, I do believe the more 'Made in the USA' items should be purchased for sale in our National Parks' stores. It is good for America and Americans, for starters.

Sep 21st - 08:23am | Kirby Adams

We live in a global economy where the "made in" tag doesn't mean what it used to. You can buy a Honda with more American parts and labor in it than some Chevys. Those T-shirts were quite possibly stitched in Honduras with cotton and polyester from the US and then came back here to be screen-printed.

Sep 21st - 05:52am | Lawrence J. Caldwell

Our National Parks could rightly be called International Parks based on the demographics of visitors.  When I visited Bryce Canyon and Zion two years ago, I think the Germans easily outnumbered the Americans.  I have visited the Arizona Memorial many times and the Japanese always have a large representation.  This is pretty common for all the Parks I have visited.  These precious places belong

Is The Time Right For A "Maine Woods National Park"?

Sep 21st - 13:27pm | Anonymous

"It doesn't remove private property rights--unless one makes a wildly illogical inference, which seems to be the case in so many of the posts here."

Sep 21st - 00:05am | Anonymous

There are additional, historical errors in the article and Quimby's beliefs, too, in the misleading attempts to romanticize the cynical process of insider park politics. 

Sep 20th - 23:39pm | Anonymous

Anon wrote, "The thing is, creating a national park is not removing anybody's private property rights. The land belongs to Roxanne, and as her private property, she has chosen to gift it to the rest of us as a national park. I don't see how that removes private property rights."

Sep 20th - 23:14pm | Chris

Quimby should donate the land to the state.  Unless the land can be self-sustaining in perpetuity, it should not be taken on in the NPS.  The NPS cannot maintain the properties it has.  It should not take on any more, and it should probably cull out some units it already has.  Until the NPS can keep its current "house" in order, it shouldn't seek to expand.

Sep 20th - 21:49pm | Anonymous

"On the other side of the East Branch, the east side, Quimby proposes an 80,000-acre national recreation area, which would allow many “traditional” recreational uses, including hunting and snowmobiling, that Quimby would prefer not to see in the national park.

Sep 20th - 21:04pm | NPS_Survivor

When I first saw this proposal, I was inspired.  It is difficult, initially, to see the downsides.  However, when the locals see the parks as restrictive---they are right.  The key is Congressional authorizations and cooperative management.

Sep 20th - 20:05pm | Anonymous

"Most people who are against creating a NP are against it because they somehow think it will have a negative financial inpact on them personally--- how short sighted and selfish... Thank God there are people like Ms Quimby with the foresight and generosity to look beyond her own selfish interests."

Sep 20th - 19:23pm | Anonymous

reply to anon of September 20, 2011 - 6:12am: "As the climate warms and the population grows there is no doubt that this land will eventually be developed. If not preserved in some way it will ultimately be lost to the public."

Sep 20th - 13:38pm | Anonymous

As the climate warms? Didn't you get the memo?

Sep 20th - 12:14pm | Anonymous

 The best way to preserve the north woods is to encourage the business conditions that promote the sustainable growth, harvest, manufacture, and sale of forest products from it.  This has worked for hundreds of years.   Until Roxanne Quimby.

Sep 20th - 11:19am | Anonymous

 Sounds like the same arguements people used trying to defeat Grand Teton Nat. park back in the day. It's a "land grab"- it's tramping on "state rights", outsiders are trying to interfere- yada,yada,yada.

Sep 20th - 07:12am | Anonymous

Look to the future.  As the climate warms and the population grows there is no doubt that this land will eventually be developed.  If not preserved in some way it will ultimately be lost to the public. 

Sep 20th - 02:11am | Gladesman

The plan B tyranny running amuck in America is unending. Let Ms Quimby buy a nice tombstone for her legacy and leave other Maine citizens alone.

Sep 19th - 19:41pm | Anonymous

Once the government controls the land there are no more private property rights there.  She is deliberately trying to exploit private property in order to destroy property rights forever.  Quimby does not have a "right" to change the form of government over an entire region and her property ownership does not give her such a "right".  Her "gift" would mean giving power to the National Park Serv

Sep 19th - 19:08pm | Anonymous

The thing is, creating a national park is not removing anybody's private property rights. The land belongs to Roxanne, and as her private property, she has chosen to gift it to the rest of us as a national park. I don't see how that removes private property rights.

Sep 19th - 19:00pm | Anonymous

Quimby is a 60s counter culture radical who wants to abolish a modern natural resources economy, recreation other than wilderness hiking, private property rights, and representative self-government.  She knows that the power of the National Park Service imposes the most control for what she wants with the least accountability to local people.  It's the closest she can come to controling the lan

Sep 19th - 15:36pm | Anonymous

As a native Mainer, I'm very familiar with Baxter State Park. Baxter is much better managed from an ecological perspective than the national parks, so I'd prefer to see this land added on to Baxter. That said, Roxanne has incredible foresight and generosity, and if she feels that the national park system is better for this land, perhaps she sees something that I don't.

Sep 19th - 14:13pm | Anonymous

Dottie on September 19, 2011 9:53am: "didn't you publish a similar article just a few months ago?"

Sep 19th - 13:13pm | Anonymous

The "Adirondacks" greenline scheme mixing restrictions on use of private property with government acquisition has already been thoroughly rejected in Maine.  There is no "right time" for these audacious attempts to remove private property rights.

Sep 19th - 12:13pm | Anonymous

Yes, it's time!  This will be an economic boon for the region--way more folks visit national than state parks.  It will ensure future prosperity for local communities and preserve an American wilderness and recreation area.

Sep 19th - 10:53am | Dottie

If the citizens of Maine want to preserve their woods and land as it is today, then they should designate it a State Park.   The tending of the Park, the staff of the Park, should be paid with Maine taxes, not Federal.  (And didn't you publish a similar article just a few months ago?)

Sep 19th - 07:54am | Brad G.

I'm torn on this with mixed feelings. As a NP lover and someone with ties to Maine, it'd be great to have a NP there.  On the other hand, as a conservative who no longer trusts DC politicians, I completely understand the locals hesitance over giving up land. But what about the donated land being added to Baxter State Park under state control?  Would that be a good compromise?

Studies Show Bear Spray More Effective Than Guns Against Grizzlies

Sep 21st - 12:36pm | Jim Burnett

Re: "These stats are obviously invented by the anti-gun crowd."

Sep 20th - 22:46pm | Anonymous

These stats are obviously invented by the anti-gun crowd. As other's have already said the spray can blow back into the user. A high power light will work some times, the same argument about charging bear and getting a shot off could be made about the spray. I have used the spray before and some animals it worked and some it just pi33ed them off more.

Birding in the National Parks: Puffins, Murrelets And More In Glacier Bay National Park

Sep 21st - 07:34am | Kirby Adams

A place like Glacier Bay is enough to turn Kurt into a full-fledged (pun intended) birder!

Against All Odds: Rangers Find Injured Man Crawling Across the Desert at Canyonlands National Park

Sep 20th - 19:40pm | Wrain

I am glad you are recovering. I, too, hike alone and even if it is just a day hike I always carry my first aid/emergency kit.  I am guilty of saying I will be at one spot but then go to another.  Not on purpose but in the spur of the moment and too many people at the planned spot.  I will from now on leave a note in the truck to let someone know where I am.

Sep 20th - 11:35am | shane srogi

Amos I'm very glad that this is a story of determination by the Park Service and yourself.  And it's a reminder.....a lesson to leave a travel plan and exit time with a contact.  Something I am guilty of failing to do.  I will take your "It can happen to me" to heart.  Thanks to the Park Service for the outstanding job they do. -Shane

Biscayne National Park Working On Update To Its General Management Plan

Sep 20th - 18:12pm | Drew Martin

We need no-take zones.

National Park History: Yosemite's Cosmopolitan Bathhouse & Saloon (1871-1884)

Sep 20th - 10:50am | Bob Janiskee

Good catch, Michael, and many thanks. To avoid confusion, I've gone back into the article and replaced the misleading info about the Yosemite Falls Hotel/Sentinel Hotel.

Sep 20th - 10:34am | Michael Mariant

Bob, Thanks for sharing this wonderful history of the Cosmopolitan Bathhouse & Sallon, one of the classic early settler buildings in Yosemite's Old Village.

National Park Service Issues 5-Year "Call To Action" Plan For Moving Toward Its Second Century

Sep 20th - 09:50am | Anonymous

  ON THE COVER North Cascades Wild is a 12-day outdoor program at North Cascades National Park that offers high school students an opportunity to explore Ross Lake and surrounding wilderness areas. Participants also complete conservation service projects for the National Park Service while learning about leadership, community building, and natural and cultural history.  

Sep 19th - 09:02am | Don Morris

Anon's mildly snarky comment on NPS personnel is a classic "the glass is half-empty statement."  I can think of examples that fit his generalizations, but I can also think of many that don't.  I recall one LE ranger who knows the diverse resources of his area absolutely cold, and who is an active participant and supporter of research efforts therein.  He is also a crack shot.  I've worked with

Olympic National Park Officials Kill "Aggressive" Mountain Goat

Sep 19th - 20:59pm | Archy

I understand that there are fossilized remnants of Goat relatives in the Olympics.  Europeans weren't indigenous at all until...Get real.  It just wasn't the guy's day?  Should have become the dominant figure in the exchange.   Sincere condolences to the family.

Anchialine Pools in Hawaii’s Kaloko-Honokohau National Historical Park are Home to Some Very Rare Creatures

Sep 19th - 15:06pm | Bob Janiskee

I'm sorry, BarbM, but I can't pursue additional information about the Neritiliidae snail. We are just too overworked and understagged here at the Traveler to take on projects like that.

Sep 19th - 14:48pm | BarbM

Can you point me to any more recent information about the possible new species of Neritiliidae snail? aloha, Barb

Bluffs Lodge Along The Blue Ridge Parkway Shuttered For 2011

Sep 18th - 21:53pm | Shane Thompson

My family has been staying at Bluffs Lodge for many years now starting way back with my Grandparents.  My folks took me their many times growing up and I even once talked my Dad into hiking down to the cabin when I was 12 or 13.  Been back a few times on my own and have been planning another trip in the near future so my youngest daughter can see the place that gives her father so many fond mem

Earliest North American Beaver Thought To Have Sharpened Teeth Near Site Of Today's John Day Fossil Beds National Monument

Sep 18th - 19:46pm | Anon

My Granddad herded sheep in the John Day region circa 1900. He also drove a stagecoach from The Dalles almost to the California line. He talked alot about a town called Shaniko, which was the stage stop, and the Three Sisters.

Study Points To Economic Benefits of Colonial National Historical Park

Sep 18th - 14:00pm | Steven T. Corne...

Thanks for this nice article. I speak as someone who has worked for six years to see Fort Monroe saved from the development interests that not only still threaten it, but that threaten it even if a national park gets created on part of it. It’s vital to understand that this national treasure remains in

Watch the Video: "Sky Islands" In Yosemite National Park

Sep 18th - 12:36pm | John

Very well done video and incredible footage.  I'll have to try and hike to one of these sky islands on my next visit, such beautiful plants and flowers.  Thanks National Parks Traveler.

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