by Jim Beers
Ever notice the vegetation in "our" National Parks? Here in
the East the
vast majority of vegetation is grasses that are periodically mowed and
timber stands that are never cut. Sure there is the exception like
"The
Cornfield" at Antietam where a vicious battle was fought in a cornfield
that
is replanted each year and the grain fields at Gettysburg through which
Pickett and his men marched to the "copse of trees" and into
history.
Out west the average vegetation picture is different but basically similar.
Uncut tree stands, either overgrazed (by totally "protected"
wildlife) or
ungrazed (by prohibited domestic animals) grasslands, and (as with all other
National Parks) an eclectic mix of plants that are either touted or
condemned as suits US National Park budget purposes.
In and around all National Parks the wild animal populations are a
disgraceful mix of harmful predators (wolves, bears, cougars, coyotes,
raccoons, etc.) that are unmanaged and bold due to pet-like treatment in the
Park and over-populations of grazing/browsing animals that decimate park
vegetation and decrease other wildlife from songbirds to amphibians and
reptiles by destroying their habitat. None of these animals or plants is
managed in any real sense by the AA (Arrogant Agency) known as the National
Park Service. While the nation is well-populated by hunters that would
pay to take prescribed numbers of the deer and elk and trappers that would
likewise pay to take the predators in ways and places that would not
endanger any visitors or undesignated wildlife, such common sense management
and revenue generation is never spoken.
And the National Park Service gets more lands, more people, and bigger
budgets each year. Entrance fees (for lands "saved" with our tax
money and
employing people likewise paid with our taxes) do not supplement annual
Appropriations "enough". The lists of proposed National Parks
is limited
only by opportunity and imagination. This AA is credited with the novel
(and tyrannical) concept of their vested interest in surrounding private
property known as their "viewshed". As one headline in a national
paper read last week, "NATIONAL PARKS SEEK WAYS TO RAISE FUNDS".
All of these issues are, in one way or another, emerging in the other
Federal land managing agencies that together with the Parks control over 40%
of the nation and are increasing this "share" daily. The US
Forest Service, the US Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Bureau of Land
Management are increasingly erasing from their policies and practices the
management of renewable natural resources (wildlife, fish, trees, grass,
water, etc.) and reducing uses of such resources by people (hunters,
fishermen, trappers, ranchers, farmers, loggers, pet owners, campers, and
visitors of all stripes). Along with "viewsheds" such
unforeseen rural assaults as road closures, Wilderness Designations, Critical
Habitats, forcible predator insertions, Area Closures, Area permits, and
"Native Ecosystem/Invasive Species" mysticism are replacing the
written purposes in Authorizing Legislation for which each area was authorized
for acquisition by Congress. All of these AA's have come to believe that the
Parks or Refuges or Forest are "their fiefdom".
Increasingly we see Billionaire landowners "partnering" (through
their own
"scientists") with neighboring AA's to close down access, allow
predators to
decimate huntable wildlife species, stop fishery management of surrounding
streams, and eliminate all grazing and timbering to enhance the value of
their "estates" (or dukedom or earldom as the case may be) while
eliminating rural towns, rural families, rural economies, rural lifestyles,
and American
freedoms and traditions for all but the rich.
But back to the "grass" and uncut woodlands on the National Parks.
Does
anyone believe that when these battles were fought on the Park sites that
the vegetation or grass stands or uncut woodlands looked anything like they
do today? They were cutting trees for construction and cooking and
heating.
They were burning slash (unused twigs and gnarly branches). Those folks were
growing crops and grazing stock that was (pardon me) pooping all over the
pastures and around the barns. They were growing (shhh) tobacco!
They had horses and dirt roads and manure piles. Picture that when
you stand at the "copse of trees" and don't forget the smell.
No, they didn't eat grass and they cut down trees: they ate and slept and
built and raised families and died there, not in the urban enclaves we are
increasingly forcing rural residents to move to. And my point is?
My point is that the National Park Service has been foisting off a caricature
environment for years. Simultaneously they condemn hunting and fishing
and trapping and timber management and grazing as evil practices.
Urbanites, suburbanites, exurbanites, "professionals", and other
manners of
unaffected citizens accept this hokum as "science" when in fact it
is
thinly-veiled environmental evangelism. All this while the National
Parks
whine for money and the plant and animal communities become more bizarre
each year. Bizarre doesn't have anything to do with "Native"
or "Invasive"
Species, it has everything to do with the political, budget, and power
agendas of these AA's and all their "partners" and the politicians
that feed
them for their own purposes (reelection).
Why aren't logged (Selectively, Renewably, Sustainably) woodlands found on
National Parks and why are they disappearing on the other AA's fiefdoms?
Why aren't animal populations managed by hunting to maintain diverse plant
communities on National Parks and why is this decreasing on the other AA's
fiefdoms? Why aren't domestic animals allowed to graze under permits on
National Parks and why is this beneficial practice being eliminated on the
other AA's fiefdoms? Why aren't fishing and trapping allowed on National
Parks and why are management programs for and activity levels for such
activities not being maintained on other AA's fiefdoms? Why isn't all
the
revenue such activities would generate for "our" public lands and
the benefit to local communities from such activities considered as all of
these AA's cry on their bellies and pound their fists on the floor for more of
our tax dollars to further remove American lands from American use?
The answer, of course, is known to all. The agencies are "too
big" and "too
powerful" for anyone, including our elected officials, to rein in.
All of
the "Friends" of the AA's know it. All of the
"Clubs" and "Societies" and
"Councils" and "Institutes" and "Unlimiteds" and
"Federations" and other
assorted ne'er-do-wells not only know it, the smile as they read this.
All
of the politicians on both sides of the "divide" (pro-AA or anti-AA)
know
this all too well.
Well the "answer" is wrong! THE ANSWER is DIVESTITURE.
Most (the majority) of the lands controlled by these AA's would be better
maintained (biologically, culturally, and economically) if they were
transferred to State or private ownership with conditions that assure the
maintenance of open space or managed woodlands or natural wetland on which
basis the Federal government purchased or set aside the land.
Think of the initial revenue from the sale of the land. Think of the
annual
savings from all the grandiose "requirements" dreamed up annually by
AA's.
Think of the roads and access reopened and kept open. Think of the
economic benefit to local communities. Think of the business and
recreational opportunities provided to outdoor recreation-starved urbanites.
Think of State and local elected officials once again controlling our
communities and lifestyles. Think of the possible rural
"style-of-living" we could once more establish without the Federal
800 lb. gorilla overshadowing everything we do or want to do.
I plan to write more on DIVESTITURE, but for now just think about a % target.
Say 20% divested from each agency in each state by 2008. Think about
your
Governor having a say in what lands are to be divested. Think about the
message of a long-forgotten fact (that the agencies work for the politicians
WE ELECT) this would send to an increasingly out-of-control bureaucracy.
For now, just think about it.
Jim Beers
31 December 2005
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