Sorry to take the focus off of WMD (fact or fiction) but here is a report issued today on the Bush administration's national parks policies. Same administration but this one is a little more fishing related.

FYI NPCA is a private conservation association dedicated to preserving America's national parks. On the political scale, they are fairly conservative with a number of Republican ex-congressmen in current or past board positions.

_______________________

NORTHWESTand ALASKA National Parks

NEWS RELEASE
For Immediate Release
June 11, 2003

For a copy of the NPCA report card and the complete assessment, which includes the methodology used for grading current and future administrations, visit www.npca.org/reportcard

Contact: Heather Weiner, National Parks Conservation Association, 206-903-1444 ext.21
Jim Stratton, National Parks Conservation Association, 907-277-6722
Kate Himot, National Parks Conservation Association, 202-454-3311

Administration Earns D- on National Parks
Report Card Highlights Administration's Failure to Protect Parks

Washington, D.C. -The Bush administration received a D- today in a report card issued by the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) for failing to meet its often repeated pledge to "restore and renew" the national parks. Among the leading reasons for the very low grade, as cited in a detailed, fact-based assessment, is the administration's pervasive pattern of damaging national park policies over the past two and a half years, including actions to rollback the Clean Air Act and an aggressive push from Washington, D.C. to outsource up to 70 percent of all positions in the already understaffed National Park Service. Policies such as these could seriously damage the capacity of the Park Service to protect the resources and provide a quality visitor experience in national parks across the country including Washington's icon national park, Mt. Rainier.

"The president made strong commitments to the American people about protecting our national parks, and the administration has failed to keep them to date," said NPCA President Thomas Kiernan. "Our national parks have become a victim of the administration's policies that exploit parklands for the benefit of special interests."

The NPCA report card grades the administration on five broad categories: protection of resources such as air quality and wildlife; visitor experience; funding; park administration and management; and growth of the park system. It also grades the administration's actions affecting individual parks, such as the move to permit construction of a new coal-fired power plant outside of Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky-an action that disregards Park Service studies about the harmful effects of power plant pollution on the park, already one of America's five most polluted.

Two years ago, NPCA gave the administration a D for its record on national parks. Although the current report card recognizes several significant accomplishments, NPCA's 30-page assessment reveals several alarming administration initiatives. Among the most harmful is the new scheme to privatize nearly 2,000 positions in the national parks by next summer, including archaeologists, biologists, and maintenance workers. This action is being taken without input from park superintendents, and poses a serious threat to park protection, the experiences of visitors, and the diversity of the Park Service workforce.

"At Mt. Rainier National Park, 67 positions, almost half of the park's entire permanent staff, are going up for auction. We're talking about the same people who protect the park, rescue stranded visitors, paint signs and count salmon- all as part of a day's work in service to our most treasured lands," said Heather Weiner, NPCA's Northwest Regional director. "On top of that, Rainier's budget and staff time are being raided to pay a corporation hundreds of thousands of dollars just to conduct the studies on privatization."
To the delight of private developers, the administration has reinvigorated a provision in the 1866 Mining Act that could allow county and state governments to claim streambeds and wagon ruts as routes for unnecessary new roads in Denali National Park, Mojave National Preserve, Dinosaur National Monument, and other parks.

"If the administration chooses to pursue this policy, Alaska's national parks, among others, would be desecrated by a series of unnecessary motorized routes bisecting critical wildlife habitat and opening up areas to poaching and pollution," said Jim Stratton, NPCA's Alaska Regional director. "The National Park System provides a spectrum of experience, and Alaska's parks represent much of the wilderness end of the spectrum. Crossing the wilderness with motorized routes not only endangers the plants, animals, and scenic vistas the parks protect but also destroys the parks' character. People come to Alaska to see wilderness and wildlife, not to see roads and motorized use trails."
In addition, the administration has fallen far short of its pledge to eliminate the backlog of maintenance projects in our national parks and yet persists in touting the pledge without allocating significant new funds. And at the urging of snowmobile manufacturers, the administration continues to allow noisy, polluting snowmobiles to operate in Yellowstone and Grant Teton national parks and has increased daily limits.

"There is time for the administration to earn a better grade by improving its policies on our national parks," Kiernan said. "Until then, the 300 million people who visit the parks annually will not have the experiences they deserve."

The NPCA assessment outlines actions the administration can take to improve its grade, such as fully funding the national parks, strengthening clean air protections, eliminating the loophole allowing new road claims, enforcing the snowmobile ban at Yellowstone and Grand Teton, and exempting the Park Service from the new privatization initiative.

For a copy of the NPCA report card and the complete assessment, which includes the methodology used for grading current and future administrations, visit www.npca.org/reportcard

# # #

Strike four

the NPCA is an private environmental group with their own agenda (i.e. - PETA, WT, Greenpeace, ALF) and have no authority within the government or the national parks system.

easy enough to do the math on this group too

Metal Mojo, I hear you bashing the report but are you defending the administration? You don't seem to provide any argument against what the report details only to criticize it. Present your facts and see if they can stand on their own. The current adminstration has continued to say one thing and do another. They provide the lip service but never follow through with the funding as promised

Thanks for the info, haven't seen this in the press yet.

And you know, you'll definitely not hear it from the AM radio crowd!

It's very fortunate that we have watchdog and advocacy groups to bring this administration's dirty deeds to light.

This report carries no weight with me.Just satisfies though that want to here it.

You must be joking right? To compare an organization that wants to protect national parks to PETA and ALF is totally a case of apples an oranges. Come on Metalhead, you can't be that ignorant can you?

I never implied they had any authority within the government. I just found it interesting that a conservative organization would be so public about calling GW et. al. on the carpet for their actions.

sinktip...

there is only one reason you posted that article. and like ltlcleo said, it tells you what you want to hear. besides, you never posted anything about the NPCA or your love for our national parks before. or is that even relevant to you? what if the NPCA hadn't released a statement criticizing bush, would you even know who the NPCA was??

Ok Metalhead -

Tell me something I DON"T want to hear. Show me how Bush has protected the environment. Post a link that shows ANY group giving the Bush administration credit for protecting the environment.

I'm sure there is some utility company, some timber lobby, some OIL companies that give the man high marks for what he is trying to do to the environment.

That's not what you are saying is it? That G-dub should get good grades for his environmental platform?

This one where area where criticism of the Bush administration is beyond reproach.

My dear Metalhead Mojo,

Thank you so much for answering the question I posted above. I suspected as much but wanted to give you the benefit of the doubt.

As for my prior knowledge of the NPCA, up until a little over a year ago I knew little about them. It was at that time I was contacted by the Northwest Director and asked to meet to discuss area fisheries issues as related to the OP park. Soon thereafter I was asked to be part of an advisory team regarding the same. I have since been in correspondence with NPCA on an almost weekly basis. As for my reasons for posting the report, I believe I stated those above. Since you are the one who likened them to PETA and ALF, I can only conclude that you are the one now clueless about the organization.

Just so we have all the cards on the table here, I admit I am not a big fan of GW. That is in spite of the fact I voted for him as the lesser of two perceived evils. Trust me, it gives me no pleasure to see him stumble and backtrack on campaign promises.

Because of my background, I judge administrations in two key areas: foreign policy and the environment. To my way of thinking, GW is 0 for 2. While I can understand where there is some room for debate regarding FP, the environmental record sadly speaks for itself.

sinktip

Thank you, Mr. Sinktip, for airing this report though I must say I expected as much. It seems *Resource Exploitation* is just another way of spelling *Republican Party*. Sorry if it hurts...

mmm

Healthy environment equals healthy fish runs. It is hard for me to understand why so many fisherpeople seem unconcerned about environmental issues. Unfortunately our current administration is bought and sold by those who profit to pollute.

For immediate release:04/30/2003
Contact: Herb Moore Jr., Director of Government Affairs
609-294-3315


Bush Administration Takes Stand for Sport Fishing Industry


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Washington, D.C.) - Secretary of Commerce Donald Evans has delivered a letter to Pascal Lamy, European Union Commissioner for Trade, expressing serious concerns that overfishing by EU member states is reducing the stocks of marlin and tuna below sustainable levels. Secretary Evans highlights that actions taken and positions adopted by the EU are undermining the International Convention for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) and threaten the viability of the U.S. sport fishing industry.

"I am concerned that overfishing by EU member states is reducing stocks of ICCAT species below sustainable levels," stated Secretary Evans in an April 25 letter. "The EU is a world leader in supporting protection of the global environment and the sustainable use of natural resources. In the case of Atlantic fishing stocks, however, it appears that the actions and positions of the EU and its member states are at a variance with these goals."

Atlantic bluefin tuna and blue and white marlin fuel a multi-billion dollar sport fishing industry in the U.S. More than just recreation, this industry consists of individual anglers, boat builders, fishing tackle manufacturers, boat retailers, engine companies, bait and tackle retailers, marinas, party and charter boat businesses, tournaments and others.

"Our industry is heavily dependent on healthy fish stocks," said Robert T. Healey, CEO of the Viking Yacht Company and Voluntary Chairman of the Recreational Fishing Alliance (RFA). "If our fisheries continue to decline, jobs will be lost. No fish- no fish boats."

Despite strong conservation measures taken by this U.S sector, the stocks of bluefin tuna, blue and white marlin continue to decline. The depletion of these highly migratory species is largely due to foreign nations failing to comply with their obligations under ICCAT- a trade agreement under which quotas are set and management measures are derived to maintain the stocks of these species which migrate across the Atlantic.

The letter from Secretary Evans follows a petition filed by the RFA, a national, grassroots political action organization representing U.S. sport fishermen and the sport fishing industry, to address the EU’s overfishing of marlin, swordfish and tuna. The RFA alleged in the petition that the EU’s noncompliance with ICCAT amounts to unfair trade practices under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974.

"I would like to work together with you [Commissioner Lamy] so as to make ICCAT an effective steward of our shared Atlantic fisheries, and to prevent this issue from becoming another bilateral trade irritant," stated Secretary Evans. "To that end, I am urging you [Commissioner Lamy] to take prompt action to improve EU compliance with existing ICCAT obligations and to re-consider accepting science-based conservation measures to guarantee a sustainable future for species like the Atlantic bluefin tuna and white marlin."

"We are very pleased that the Bush Administration is urging the EU to live up to its obligations under ICCAT," said James A. Donofrio, RFA executive director. "We applaud Secretary Evans for standing up for our fishermen, our fishing industry, and our marine environment."

"We are looking forward to working with the Department of Commerce in its efforts with the EU, and view this action as major progress for the sport fishing industry," added Mr. Donofrio.

The Recreational Fishing Alliance is a national, grassroots political action organization representing individual sport fishermen and the sport fishing industry. The RFA Mission is to safeguard the rights of saltwater anglers, protect marine, boat and tackle industry jobs and ensure the long-term sustainability of U.S. saltwater fisheries. For more information, call 1-888-JOIN-RFA.

I take it all back...the Bush administration 'delivered a letter'....

Seems like their concern in this area might arise less from environmental concerns and more for concern over the commercial fishing industry....

Call me crazy....

But of course,

A bush hater is a Bush hater and nothing else matters.

Take a sec to see who the RFA is. They are our best hope for sportfishing rights.

That's right...and a Bush sympathizer can see a stool pile and call it a flower garden.

Bush's environmental record speaks for itself.

H2o....Slab is right ..you hate Bush no matter what he does and wouldn't admit anything was good for any reason..You better go in and play some of those Grateful Dead records backwards to see what they say.....

" Buuuuuushhhhhh is Baaaaaaad"
" Buuuuuushhhhhh is Baaaaaaad".....

"Capitalism Baaaaaaad"
" Private property Baaaaaaaad"

"Karl Marx Goooooooood.....
"Mao Tse Tung Gooooooood.....

Hey, watch it there! Don't go badmouthin' the Dead. I like them

s,matter grandpa....

in no way can you refute that Bush's environmental policy sucks, so its back to your stale bag of tricks.

Mc Carthy used the same tactics as you and we all so fondly remember him, right.....ahhh, the good old days.

Your head is so far up this administrations *** that dubya could break wind and you'd be grateful for the breeze.

Oh yeah, GW is quite the environmental president. Why see where he tries to chase off the Europeans to save the fish for U.S. exploitation with its commercial fleet. Yeah he sure is a green shrub by all such accounts.

Get real.

mmm