National Parks

[kingfin66]

That is a very impressive list so far Sandpit!

[maddog42]

http://www.snopes.com/2016/07/16/gop...ational-parks/

The Republican party platform calls for most federal land (including National Parks) to be returned to the states.

[Inner Dirt]

Originally Posted by maddog42

http://www.snopes.com/2016/07/16/gop...ational-parks/

The Republican party platform calls for most federal land (including National Parks) to be returned to the states.

Did you have to try to ruin a nice peaceful off topic thread by throwing politics in to the mix?

[maddog42]

Originally Posted by Inner Dirt

Did you have to try to ruin a nice peaceful off topic thread by throwing politics in to the mix?

Sorry guys. I worked at Yellowstone (for Hamilton Food stores) during the summer of 1974. I am very protective of the NPS and think they do a good job. I got to know many rangers including Gerald Fords son who was working there at the time. A good guy by the way. I don't want the Parks messed with.

[Inner Dirt]

I dealt with the federal management of the San Bernardino National Forest in 1980-82 as a self employed lumberjack. I know it's not a national park,
but it is still federal management of land. I was the youngest person in the timber operator meetings with the powers to be. I noticed two things, they were more concerned with cosmetics than preventing future disasters. Devastating fires years later could have been prevented with proactive measures. Those of us that spoke up and questioned their methods (I was one) were constantly harassed by forest rangers. I consider it harassment when the same ranger comes by every day and inspects your operation and always finds everything in order. His visits disturbed my work, having to hike down to get paperwork out of the truck, take apart chainsaws to show spark arresters, etc,etc. At the same time reports of illegal cutting (people taking green pine trees, cutting in unauthorized areas, etc,etc) went uninvestigated. My only experience with federal land management and I wasn't impressed. I would think a state would do just as good and most likely a better job.

[maddog42]

Originally Posted by Inner Dirt

I dealt with the federal management of the San Bernardino National Forest in 1980-82 as a self employed lumberjack. I know it's not a national park,
but it is still federal management of land. I was the youngest person in the timber operator meetings with the powers to be. I noticed two things, they were more concerned with cosmetics than preventing future disasters. Devastating fires years later could have been prevented with proactive measures. Those of us that spoke up and questioned their methods (I was one) were constantly harassed by forest rangers. I consider it harassment when the same ranger comes by every day and inspects your operation and always finds everything in order. His visits disturbed my work, having to hike down to get paperwork out of the truck, take apart chainsaws to show spark arresters, etc,etc. At the same time reports of illegal cutting (people taking green pine trees, cutting in unauthorized areas, etc,etc) went uninvestigated. My only experience with federal land management and I wasn't impressed. I would think a state would do just as good and most likely a better job.

You might be right about states doing a better job, but you would be putting the Parks at risk. Money shortages causes states to do desperate things. Corruption at the state level can be very common and my experience with state government is much like yours with rangers.

[cj]

I have yet to go to one but plan on starting next year. Redwood National Park is first on my list.

[barahona44]

Been to Badlands, eerily beautiful, looks like another planet, Grand Canyon, stunning as advertised and the Petrified Forest, which was also good.

I was watching National Geographic Channel yesterday and a promo for a series NGC is doing on the National Park system featured an appearance by Barack Obama in which he said"The national parks might be the best idea America ever had".

Which means a significant number of PA members will now think the park systems are the WORST idea America ever had.

[sandpit]

Originally Posted by barahona44

Been to Badlands, eerily beautiful, looks like another planet, Grand Canyon, stunning as advertised and the Petrified Forest, which was also good.

I was watching National Geographic Channel yesterday and a promo for a series NGC is doing on the National Park system featured an appearance by Barack Obama in which he said"The national parks might be the best idea America ever had".

Which means a significant number of PA members will now think the park systems are the WORST idea America ever had.

Obama stole the line from Ken Burn's series: The National Parks: America's Best Idea. Burns got it from the Pulitzer winning author Wallace Stegner.

Another eerie-looking place well worth visiting is Craters of the Moon National Monument in central Idaho. And a great drive from there east towards the Tetons; gives you a much different look at the mountains than you usually see in photos.

[sandpit]

Originally Posted by cj

I have yet to go to one but plan on starting next year. Redwood National Park is first on my list.

Coastal redwoods are amazing, taller than the Sequoias, but if you go to Sequoia NP you can see Kings Canyon on the same trip. The Sequoias are still the most awe-inspiring sight I think I've ever seen.

[cj]

Originally Posted by sandpit

Coastal redwoods are amazing, taller than the Sequoias, but if you go to Sequoia NP you can see Kings Canyon on the same trip. The Sequoias are still the most awe-inspiring sight I think I've ever seen.

That was going to be the next one, maybe I'll swap the order.

[_______]

I think when my wife and I try to visit all the NP's in the lower 48, we'll include the sites of the former Mackinac National Park in Michigan (now Mackinac State Park) and Platte National Park in Oklahoma (now Chickasaw National Recreation Area).

[maddog42]

The drive south out of Yellowstone into the Tetons toward Jackson Hole is one of the prettiest little 2 hour trips I ever took. It takes 2 hours because of the stops due to picture taking.

[Racetrack Playa]

Wallace Stegner, 1983:


"National parks are the best idea we ever had. Absolutely American, absolutely democratic, they reflect us at our best rather than our worst."

https://www.nps.gov/subjects/centenn...nnial-news.htm

Stephen T. Mather, NPS Director, 1917-1929:


"The parks do not belong to one state or to one section.... The Yosemite, the Yellowstone, the Grand Canyon are national properties in which every citizen has a vested interest; they belong as much to the man of Massachusetts, of Michigan, of Florida, as they do to the people of California, of Wyoming, and of Arizona."

"Who will gainsay that the parks contain the highest potentialities of national pride, national contentment, and national health? A visit inspires love of country; begets contentment; engenders pride of possession; contains the antidote for national restlessness.... He is a better citizen with a keener appreciation of the privilege of living here who has toured the national parks."

[sandpit]

Originally Posted by maddog42

The drive south out of Yellowstone into the Tetons toward Jackson Hole is one of the prettiest little 2 hour trips I ever took. It takes 2 hours because of the stops due to picture taking.

Agree! I read that the south entrance to Yellowstone was closed yesterday do to a forest fire, which I'm sure is making for a traffic nightmare since you can't just drive down to the next block and go around it .