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03-28-2007, 09:03 AM
Supporters offer ideas for national parks
JEFFREY P. MAYOR; The News Tribune
Published: March 27th, 2007 01:00 AM
Rebuilding the connection between Americans, especially today’s children, and our national parks needs to be a priority in the next 10 years.
That was the common theme from more than 40 people who related their memories and dreams for the national parks to Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne. He attended a public session on the National Park Centennial Initiative on Monday at Seattle Town Hall.
Announced last August, the initiative is an effort determine specific goals as the U.S. Park Service approaches its 100th anniversary in 2016. President Bush has proposed providing up to $3 billion in public and private funds.
Kempthorne said that lost connection has come up at previous meetings.
“There is a decline we’re seeing in people visiting the national parks,” he said. “We’re also seeing a declining in beginning-level participation in fishing, hunting and hiking. The increase we’re seeing is in chronic disease. If we can reconnect with the outdoors, we’ll reverse that trend line and those other trends.”
Sean Smith, Northwest director of the National Park Conservation Association, talked of loathing family vacations to national parks as a child. But as an adult, he now appreciates those trips.
“(The parks) are repositories of our childhood memories,” Smith said.
The Park Service should adopt the Class of 2016, today’s third-graders, and build yearly programs that will engage the youths and turn them into stewards of the nation’s parks, Smith said.
Here is what others had to say:
Ashford center: The initiative calls for greater establishment of partnerships.
Kathy Kravit-Smith, director of Pierce County Parks and Recreation, said an Ashford Cultural Center and Mountaineering Museum is a perfect example. In addition to serving the community, the center would be welcome center for visitors approaching the Nisqually entrance to Mount Rainier National Park. Federal dollars would be needed to meet the $10.9 million cost of the project.
Access, access, access: Parks need to be funded so they can keep the gates open as much as possible, said Vivian Cadematori, who has owned Alta Vista Resort on the park’s northeast side with her husband, Steve, for 10 years. “In my dreams, I would love to be able to see the parks be funded in a way that the management of the park will look for opportunities to open the park, rather than for opportunities to close the park,” she said.
Steve Cadematori pointed out that while big projects will garner the headlines, having the money to operate a snowplow to keep roads open will have an impact beyond the park boundaries.
Don’t wait: Enumclaw Mayor John Wise urged Kempthorne not to wait for 2016.
“We have an opportunity in 2010 with the Winter Games in Vancouver,” he said. “It is a great opportunity to show off our parks in the Northwest.”
TO COMMENT
To learn more about the National Park Centennial Initiative or to file comments online, go to www.nps.gov/2016 The deadline is Monday.
http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/story/6434516p-5733960c.html
JEFFREY P. MAYOR; The News Tribune
Published: March 27th, 2007 01:00 AM
Rebuilding the connection between Americans, especially today’s children, and our national parks needs to be a priority in the next 10 years.
That was the common theme from more than 40 people who related their memories and dreams for the national parks to Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne. He attended a public session on the National Park Centennial Initiative on Monday at Seattle Town Hall.
Announced last August, the initiative is an effort determine specific goals as the U.S. Park Service approaches its 100th anniversary in 2016. President Bush has proposed providing up to $3 billion in public and private funds.
Kempthorne said that lost connection has come up at previous meetings.
“There is a decline we’re seeing in people visiting the national parks,” he said. “We’re also seeing a declining in beginning-level participation in fishing, hunting and hiking. The increase we’re seeing is in chronic disease. If we can reconnect with the outdoors, we’ll reverse that trend line and those other trends.”
Sean Smith, Northwest director of the National Park Conservation Association, talked of loathing family vacations to national parks as a child. But as an adult, he now appreciates those trips.
“(The parks) are repositories of our childhood memories,” Smith said.
The Park Service should adopt the Class of 2016, today’s third-graders, and build yearly programs that will engage the youths and turn them into stewards of the nation’s parks, Smith said.
Here is what others had to say:
Ashford center: The initiative calls for greater establishment of partnerships.
Kathy Kravit-Smith, director of Pierce County Parks and Recreation, said an Ashford Cultural Center and Mountaineering Museum is a perfect example. In addition to serving the community, the center would be welcome center for visitors approaching the Nisqually entrance to Mount Rainier National Park. Federal dollars would be needed to meet the $10.9 million cost of the project.
Access, access, access: Parks need to be funded so they can keep the gates open as much as possible, said Vivian Cadematori, who has owned Alta Vista Resort on the park’s northeast side with her husband, Steve, for 10 years. “In my dreams, I would love to be able to see the parks be funded in a way that the management of the park will look for opportunities to open the park, rather than for opportunities to close the park,” she said.
Steve Cadematori pointed out that while big projects will garner the headlines, having the money to operate a snowplow to keep roads open will have an impact beyond the park boundaries.
Don’t wait: Enumclaw Mayor John Wise urged Kempthorne not to wait for 2016.
“We have an opportunity in 2010 with the Winter Games in Vancouver,” he said. “It is a great opportunity to show off our parks in the Northwest.”
TO COMMENT
To learn more about the National Park Centennial Initiative or to file comments online, go to www.nps.gov/2016 The deadline is Monday.
http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/story/6434516p-5733960c.html