Most Endangered Parks List Includes Encore Appearances

By Cat Lazaroff

WASHINGTON, DC, April 4, 2001 (ENS) - Air pollution, development, insufficient funding and recent actions by the Bush Administration threaten U.S. national parks, says the National Parks Conservation Association. The group released its third annual list of America's Ten Most Endangered National Parks today, citing dangers to parks in nine states and the District of Columbia.

Katmai National Park is one of several in Alaska threatened by snowmobile use and proposed development (All photos courtesy NPCA)

Many of the parks on this year's list are threatened by problems that the Bush administration has shown little interest in correcting, including air pollution, off road vehicle traffic and development.

"The Bush Administration has pledged $4.9 billion for national park protection. We commend this pledge as well as the proposed budgeting reforms for the Park Service," Kiernan added. "Unfortunately, their initial follow through on the funding promise is weak and other actions that they are taking will not help the parks, but in fact hurt them."

Bison at Yellowstone National Park can be harassed or killed if the venture outside the park's protection

Yellowstone National Park, located in Wyoming and Montana, made the list for the third year in a row, largely because of a Bush Administration proposal to delay, and perhaps reverse, a rule that would bar snowmobiles from Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks. NPCA also cites dangers to the park's bison, which are harassed and sometimes killed by Montana agriculture officials when the animals wander off federal land in search of food during the winter.

Leading this year's list are Alaska's national parks, including Denali, Katmai, Gates of the Arctic, Glacier Bay and Wrangell-St. Elias. Proposed development, lack of funding and snowmobile traffic are cited as the major threats to these pristine Arctic parks.

"The future of much of Alaska's last unspoiled wilderness rests in achieving balanced resource management," said NPCA Alaska regional director Chip Dennerlein.

Reduced flows in the Rio Grande River threaten wildlife and recreational opportunities in Big Bend National Park in Texas

In March, a bipartisan group of legislators introduced bills - the Clean Smokestacks Act of 2001 in the House and the Clean Power Act of 2001 in the Senate - that would require polluting power plants to modernize and reduce emissions of nitrogen oxide, sulfur dioxide, carbon dioxide and mercury.

President Bush has said he would support efforts to reduce power plant emissions, but last month, bowing to pressure from industry lobbyists, the president dropped his support for regulating power plant emissions of carbon dioxide.

Dunes on New York's Fire Island National Seashore could be harmed by a proposed re-sanding project

"Restoring the natural dune system is the best way to protect the park's natural resources, the visitor experience, and the vast majority of private property on the island," said NPCA northeast regional director Eileen Woodfood. "The best thing we can do to protect the park is to develop a cooperative land protection program that includes buyouts and land swaps and prohibits construction in the dune system."

In many cases, a lack of funds is the root problem affecting the parks, NPCA says. At the Frederick Douglass National Historic Site in Washington, DC, insufficient funding has led to deteriorating historic books, furnishings and photographs.

The home of abolitionist Frederick Douglass, a National Historic Site, needs millions of dollars in repair and rehabilitation

President Bush said last month he will honor his campaign promise to devote $4.9 billion to meeting the backlog of maintenance and other needs in the National Park System.

"We are urging the Bush Administration to put $2.8 billion of the Administration's proposed $4.9 billion into resource protection and visitor education," Kiernan said. "If we can redirect the proposed funding, we will begin to see more parks moving off this endangered list."

Thousands of visitors to Petrified Forest National Park steal irreplacable chunks of fossilized wood

Power plant pollution continues to cloud the air at Great Smoky Mountains National Park, located in Tennessee and North Carolina. Echoing last year's report, the NPCA says that Great Smoky, the most visited park in the national park system, could lose both the magnificent views that draw 10 million park visitors each year, and the complex and fragile web of plants and animals in the park.

Visitors are part of the problem at Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona, where unscrupulous park guests illegally disturb or steal up to 12 tons of petrified wood each year. The park, held over from last year's list, is also in danger of losing some of its sweeping vistas to development.

Off road vehicles have scarred the fragile wetlands of Florida's Big Cypress National Park

Another return visitor to the list is Stones River National Battlefield in Tennessee, a Civil War site that remains threatened by road construction and development.

More information on NPCA's Ten Most Endangered National Parks list is available at: http://www.eparks.org