BRODIE FARQUHAR Star-Tribune correspondent with wire reports | Posted: Tuesday, June 20, 2006 12:00 am
Conservationists breathed a sigh of relief Monday when {M3Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne announced the release of the National Park Service's revised management policies, which seem to be far removed from a controversial draft rewrite proposed last year by Interior Department political appointee Paul Hoffman.
The management policies constitute the day-to-day guidelines that govern protection of America's national parks. Every decade or so, Park Service management policies are revised with extensive input from the public and throughout the system. Most recently, that process produced the 2001 management policies.
{M3"When there is a conflict between conserving resources unimpaired for future generations and the use of those resources, conservation will be predominant," Kempthorne said. "That is the heart of these policies and the lifeblood of our nation's commitment to care for these special places and provide for their enjoyment."
Last August, Hoffman's draft rewrite was leaked to the press and encountered a perfect storm of opposition from conservation groups - and, most critically, Republican senators.
As deputy assistant secretary for fish, wildlife and parks, {M3Hoffman drafted an extensive parks policy revision that would have placed recreational interests on equal footing with conservation of resources. Specifically, it would have allowed increased air and noise pollution, snowmobiling, jet skiing and livestock grazing, and prevented the public from suing the agency for not complying with its own management policies.
The plan proposed that in order for activities to be prohibited in parks, they must be something that "irreversibly" harms the parks instead of only harming them.
Hoffman, a former head of the Cody Country Chamber of Commerce and aide to then-Wyoming U.S. Rep. Dick Cheney, has long supported motorized recreation interests.
{M3Stung by public criticism, Interior released a revised draft in October, which sparked more than 50,000 public comments.
The latest draft will be shared with Park Service staff for the next three weeks before final approval.
Outgoing Interior Secretary Gale Norton shifted Hoffman into another job, as the new deputy assistant secretary for performance, accountability and human resources.
U.S. Sen. Craig Thomas, R-Wyo., said the newly released parks management policies put the agency on solid footing for the future.
"If there is anything to be learned from the saga of the National Park Service management policies," he said in a press release, "it's how crucial it is for public servants to communicate and coordinate their efforts with stakeholders."
The National Parks Conservation Association sponsored a Monday press conference, along with the Coalition of National Park Service Retirees, Natural Resources Defense Council and the Wilderness Society n all in praise of the new policy draft.
"This is a good day for protection of resources," said Rob Arnberger, a coalition executive and former regional director of national parks in Alaska. He said the Hoffman draft would have put the Park Service "on a different path and not contribute to protection of park resources."
Bill Wade, executive director for the coalition, said the latest draft is largely based on the 2001 policies, with minor changes that improve rather than harm the parks.
Mike Scott, executive director of the Greater Yellowstone Coalition, said he hadn't had a chance to read the new policy draft, but was encouraged by what he heard from other conservation groups n that the new draft "reaffirms the duty to protect resources" in the national parks.
Scott called the Hoffman revision "a clear case of overreaching" by motorized recreation supporters who simply failed to understand public sentiment and support for the national parks.
Greg Mumm, executive director of the BlueRibbon Coalition, a recreation group that has pushed for snowmobile access in Yellowstone National Park, said the new policy is a setback when compared with last year's proposal.
"All forms of recreation (should) be able to enjoy our national parks," Mumm said.
Brodie Farquhar is a freelance writer based in Lander. He can be reached at {M3brodiefarquhar@hotmail.com.