Park Service leadership now caters exclusively to conservative Christians

[joefree1]

September 7, 2005

NATIONAL PARKS IN CRISIS
Former officials upset with Bush
By PHILLIP GOMEZ
Editor's note: The following is our second installment in our series on the National Park Service and recent policy changes that could have a negative impact on our nation's outdoor treasures.
An ongoing effort by the United States government to override 89 years of laws, rules and court rulings governing America's national parks is still in the draft stages, but could ultimately remake the guiding philosophy of the premier federal agency responsible for providing park vacationers with the opportunity "to get away from it all."

Instead, they could find that visiting a national park or historic site is little different than any other clamorous urban experience, with motorized off-road vehicles disturbing the hushed quiet, proliferating cell towers sullying scenic vistas and a commercial atmosphere noisome to relaxation and solitude.

edit ...

"The Park Service leadership now caters exclusively to conservative Christian fundamentalist groups," said PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch at the time.

"It seems to me the administration's larger orientation is to the narrow base on the religious right, to kowtow to people on the religious right," said Jerry Rogers, the Park Service's former associate director for cultural resources. As with modern science and the theory of evolution, Rogers said Hoffman's "radical (policy) rewrite stands nearly 100 years of national park stewardship on its head."
more ...
http://www.pahrumpvalleytimes.com/2005/09/07/news/parks.html

Explosive article. Read more. Lots I didn't include here. A wake up call for us nature lovers (again). Distribute far and wide.
Joe

http://www.ediablo.com

[grumpy old fart]

1. On a related point, on my visit it Mammoth Caves last year the guide......

would sometimes say something about layers of rock being laid down over millions of years, and then catch herself and go back to preface her remarks with; "some people say that over millions of years....". I asked her after the tour about this, and was told that they had to now do this. She really hated it, as she had been a biology teacher in her prior life and knew this was all just fundie B.S. The theocracy is creeping in, no doubt.

[PsychoDad]

3. Maybe she should say...

"Most well educated people say that over millions of years.... Some less educated people say...".

[moobu2]

2. These people are insane

I cant believe this is happening to our parks. very sad. I remember reading about this ignorant book claiming the Biblical flood caused the layering of the Grand Canyon. I didn’t know it was written by the idiot deputy assistant secretary for fish, wildlife and parks though. How bizarre.

Hoffman is the author of a book titled "Noah's Flood," which reportedly was sold in visitor centers at Grand Canyon National Park, along with many other science-based books on the natural history of Grand Canyon. The Pahrump Valley Times could not confirm that the book is or was sold at the park, but according to the Park Service retirees, the book interprets the park's geological formation from a biblical frame of reference according to the literal account in Genesis - and stocking it on the shelves was mandatory.

{Who is Paul Hoffman?}

<snip>

a political appointee to the office of deputy assistant secretary for fish, wildlife and parks. Hoffman was appointed to the Interior Department post in 2002, having formerly served as director of the Cody, Wyo., Chamber of Commerce, and before that as Wyoming state director for vice president Dick Cheney, then a Wyoming congressman.

[NMMNG]

4. This makes me want to cry

Religion needs to stay in the churches, and let science live in the world of reality.

[onager]

5. Some of those Fundie park visitors?

Darryl Stone, now superintendent at Jefferson National Expansion Memorial in St. Louis, remembered working the entrance station at Yosemite when a woman drove up and asked, "Which way are the geysers?"

Ranger Stone directed her to continue 1,000 miles further to Yellowstone and told her there were no geysers at Yosemite.

"Yes, there are," she said, "I have a friend who saw them."

Stone and the woman went round and round several times before she left, insisting that there were geysers at Yosemite.

Later she wrote a letter to the chief ranger complaining that Stone had refused to provide her with the information she wanted.

.............................................................

In 1994, a woman visiting from the Bay Area embarked on a solo hike to the summit of El Capitan in Yosemite.

When she became lost and saw a storm brewing, she called 911 from her cellular phone and asked to be rescued.

A helicopter found her barely off the trail and one-fourth to half a mile from the top of El Cap.

When the helicopter lifted off and the woman saw how close she was to her summit goal, she asked the crew to set her down on top. When the crew declined, she threatened to sue them for kidnapping.

Lots more here...

http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Zone/7474/blpark.html

[NMMNG]

6. Flying Spaghetti Monster, rescue us from morans!

;-)

[onager]

7. The LA TIMES ran a story once...

...about Park Rangers in Southern California. (Couldn't find the story online, dammit.)

The Rangers said they are ALWAYS having to pull out big-ass SUV's that get stuck in dry washes, snowbanks, creeks, on rock formations, etc.

And they ALWAYS hear the same two excuses from the idiots who get stuck:

1. "My SUV is only 2-wheel drive? But I really thought it was 4-wheel drive!"

2. "This model of SUV doesn't have any trouble doing the same thing I was doing...in TV commercials."

This happens so often, the Park Rangers came up with a special radio code for it--"TNS."

That's short for: "Thwarting Natural Selection."

[NMMNG]

8. LOL! n/t

[moobu2]

10. I'm a new convert

Praise the almighty Flying Spaghetti Monster...amen

consider converting
http://www.venganza.org/index.htm

[progressoid]

9. Sometimes reading posts on DU just depresses me too much

This is one of those times.