Free Republic

THE HAGUE, 06/09/08 - Public broadcaster NPS is producing a new television programme with the objective of giving the Dutch population a positive view of Muslims and other minority groups. The title of the feel-good show is Dichtbij Nederland (Close to the Netherlands). It will be a light news and infotainment programme aimed at young Moroccans, Turks, Surinamese and Antilleans, which gives a picture of life in their parents' countries. The NPS hopes that the programme "will generate more positive ideas about new population groups in the Netherlands and their countries of origin" and "draw more attention to social cohesion...

An aggressive black bear was shot and killed in a remote section of Denali National Park by park staffers on July 4... The black bear had threatened the life and safety of three park employees ... Three seasonal National Park Service technicians were conducting a botany field study along the remote river when a sub-adult black bear approached their camp ... The three tried to scare it away by yelling, waving their arms and throwing objects at the bear. After being chased off into dense brush, the bear circled back to the camp three or four times. At one point,...

Fairfax, Va. - At the request of the Bush Administration and 51 members of the United States Senate led by Senator Mike Crapo (R-ID), the National Park Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service prohibition of firearms on agency land will be revised in the following weeks. The National Rifle Association (NRA) is leading the effort to amend the existing policy regarding the carrying and transportation of firearms in National Parks and wildlife refuges. “Law-abiding citizens should not be prohibited from protecting themselves and their families while enjoying America’s National Parks and wildlife refuges,” said Chris W. Cox, NRA chief...

Officials say there are too many elk in Rocky Mountain National Park and now the U.S. National Park Service finally has a plan to thin the herd. The plan includes using volunteers to help hunt the animals. The decision was announced Tuesday after four years of studying problems caused by the out of control elk herd. Among the problems is the damage the herd is causing to aspen and willows in the park. The elk chew off all the aspen shoots so there aren't any new trees and willows just never get a chance to grow. Park Service said volunteer...

Motorized over-snow access to Yellowstone Park via Sylvan Pass will continue under terms of a Park Service decision signed Tuesday. The decision reversed an earlier Park Service preferred alternative that would have totally closed Yellowstone's East Entrance in wintertime after the 2007-08 season. A Record of Decision (ROD) concerning Yellowstone and Grand Teton parks and the Rockefeller Parkway was signed by Mike Snyder of Denver, director of the Intermountain Region of the Park Service. The ROD calls for changes in winter use in the two parks beginning with the 2008-09 winter season. “Unless they still commit to wanting to have...

The National Park Service has banished God from a key display of America's Christian heritage in Washington, and a California pastor who regularly leads teams of visitors to see markers of the nation's religious history wants Him restored. The reference is an engraving of "LAUS DEO," which is Latin for "Praise be to God," and is on the east side of the 100-ounce aluminum cap of the Washington Monument. Since the actual inscription on the cap, which on the other three sides provides other information, is unviewable atop the 555-foot stone column, the National Park Service has created a replica,...

The National Park Service, a branch of the federal government, has joined the Veterans Administration in establishing anti-Christian bigotry as public policy. The NPS has censored “God” from a key display of America's Christian heritage in Washington. The reference is an engraving of "Laus Deo," which is Latin for "Praise be to God," on the east side of the 100-ounce aluminum cap atop of the Washington Monument. Since the actual inscription on the cap is unviewable atop the 555-foot stone column, the NPS created a replica which is on display in the white-colored obelisk of marble, granite and sandstone. Now...

What makes The Heritage Foundation one of the most famous and widely quoted nonprofit companies worldwide? Having a top-notch staff to promote public policies based on the principles of free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom, traditional American values and a strong national defense helps, no question. But as the new book Forces for Good: The Six Practices of High-Impact Nonprofits shows, it’s more than that. Heritage succeeds because its leaders follow certain “high-impact� practices that have elevated the 34-year-old institution to the forefront of the nonprofit world. Figuring out what those high-impact practices are matters, because success in the nonprofit...

Gov. Bill Ritter said Wednesday that the pine beetle epidemic that has killed nearly half of the state’s lodgepole pine trees will have an “impact for generations to come” and will change the look of Colorado’s forests. After getting a look at stands of dead trees from the air, Ritter said the outbreak is part of a natural cycle that has been encouraged by the drought, milder winters and the fact there are so many clusters of the same type and age of tree that are attractive to the beetles. He said the epidemic can’t be stopped, only managed to...

Park officials are hoping to break the bruins of their dining habits. But if the bears stay, they may have to be killed. A couple of marauding black bears have prompted Rocky Mountain National Park officials to close five backcountry campsites in hopes of shifting the bears' dining habits. At least 13 break-ins have been reported since June 26, including nine just outside the park's eastern boundary near the Wild Basin area, and rangers fear the bears are learning to associate humans with food. Park officials have closed the Pine Ridge, Tahosa, Aspen Knoll, Siskin and North St. Vrain campsites...

An 11-year-old boy is killed by a black bear overnight at a popular campsite in American Fork Canyon. This morning authorities are searching for the bear. The boy was asleep inside a tent he was sharing with his family at the Timpooneke Camp area, about 10 miles up the canyon. The family was camping about two miles up a dirt road from that campground. The boy, his mother, stepfather and a 6-year-old brother were sleeping in a large tent with several sections, and the 11-year-old was in a section of the tent by himself. Around 11 p.m. family members heard...

Grand Prismatic Spring, Yellowstone National Park, State of Wyoming, USAPhotographer: Jim Peaco, July 2001, National Park Service (NPS). And this is just photo #2 from the wonderful Grand Prismatic Spring photo gallery at http://ChamorroBible.org/gpw/gpw-20041023.htm

There are now at least 1,300 wolves prowling Montana, Idaho and Wyoming, far more than anyone imagined when the species was reintroduced in the Northern Rockies 12 years ago. The wolf population has, on average, grown by about 26 percent a year for the past decade. The latest estimates, which summarize counts completed at the end of 2006, show they aren't slowing down. "I keep thinking we're at the top end of the bubble," said Ed Bangs, wolf recovery coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. "I can't see that there's room for any more, but we'll see." As...

The National Park Service has issued a permit for the Gathering of Eagles demonstration and rally on March 17 in Washington, D.C. as illustrated on the Eagle web site “Maps” link under “Sections”. BOTTOM LINE: AS UNACCEPTABLE AS THE PERMIT GRANTED IS, WE WILL BE ABLE TO PROTECT THE VIETNAM MEMORIAL WALL We view the permit decision unacceptable and will be taking immediate steps to appeal what we believe is an unworkable decision. If the National Park Service is unfavorable to our appeal, our legal arm will pursue immediate court action to acquire an equitable, realistic solution. The good news...

A trip to Lake Powell could cost you a bit more if an Arizona city succeeds in annexing a portion of Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. National Park Service officials worry the measure could affect hunting within the park and send ripples through the agency, setting a precedent for how other national parks are managed. In order to reap the revenue from a proposed 3 percent sales tax at the Wahweap and Antelope Point marinas and other concessionaires within the park, the city of Page, Ariz., wants to annex 21,000 acres of Glen Canyon National Recreation Area and the Glen...

Richard Beardall is getting exactly what he wanted: a trespassing ticket from federal land managers for ignoring the rules and riding his ATV on a closed road in the San Rafael Swell. Beardall, three other ATV riders and a Jeep, moved a 10-foot barricade near an old uranium mine and made a half-mile roundtrip along the access road to the Muddy River on Saturday. The Bureau of Land Management closed the area to recreational vehicles in 1993 due to riparian damage, said Price, Utah-based BLM manager Roger Bankert. Beardall, president of the Americans with Disabilities Access Alliance knows that, but...

Tourists won't be climbing back up to the Statue of Liberty's crown. That's the word from the National Park Service to lawmakers, some of whom have been fighting to reopen the crown following the 2001 terror attacks. The crown has been closed out of concerns that fire and terrorism hazards for the cramped spiral staircase could not be overcome. "For the better part of three years now, they've been dancing around this issue," said Rep. Anthony Weiner, D-N.Y., who has sought to force the National Park Service to reopen the crown. "This is the first time they've said they're not...

The sound and smell of the brutal cannon barrages at the Battle of Fredericksburg must have been overwhelming. The deep, rich booming of the 12-pound, smoothbore Napoleons. The high-pitched "crack, crack" of Parrott rifles. And the acrid, sulfuric stench of black powder at each explosion. "A chicken could not live on that field when we open on it," said a Confederate cannoneer atop Marye's Heights to Lt. Gen. James Longstreet as they looked down upon advancing wave after wave of blue-coated Union soldiers. Soon, visitors to the Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park will get a taste of what it...

WASHINGTON - The cherry blossoms around the Tidal Basin will be getting plenty of attention this week, especially if the weather gets warmer. The blossoms are supposed to hit peak bloom Monday, and the National Park Service's chief horticulturist said it should last for about 10 to 14 days. The National Cherry Blossom Festival started Saturday, and is expected to bring about one million people to the city. The festival runs through April 9. This marks the 94th anniversary of Japan's gift of the trees to Washington

Wells Fargo Bank Alaska has apologized for a letter one of its senior vice presidents signed that described the work of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as "junk science." ...[snip]The Oct. 21 letter, co-signed by Anchorage-based Wells Fargo banker James L. Cloud, was part of a fall fundraising campaign for Pacific Legal Foundation, a national law firm that advocates for property and access rights, and less government regulation, particularly in wetlands and coastal areas. ... The nonprofit law firm also took on the Park Service when environmentalists sued to stop mining in the Kantishna district of Denali National Park...

Green Gray Areas Books that question the conventional wisdom on the environment. BY MICHAEL CRICHTON Saturday, October 29, 2005 12:01 a.m. EDT 1. "Playing God in Yellowstone" by Alston Chase (Atlantic Monthly Press, 1986). That raw sewage bubbles out of the ground at Yellowstone National Park--after more than a century of botched conservation--would come as no surprise to Alston Chase, who 20 years ago wrote "Playing God in Yellowstone: The Destruction of America's First National Park." Mr. Chase, a former professor of philosophy turned journalist, presents a clear critique of ever-changing environmental beliefs and the damage that they have caused...

An association of retired National Park Service employees on Friday accused Bush administration political appointees of hijacking America's national parks, saying a leaked Interior Department document shows a move to stress recreation and resource development over park preservation. "Britney Spears could hold a major concert at Shiloh National Military Park or nearly any national park since the new rules significantly increase the emphasis on permitting public uses over the traditional mission of preserving historic and natural places," the Coalition of National Park Service Retirees said in a statement. The group singled out Paul Hoffman, who oversees the Park Service as...

Would you like to visit one of America's awe-inspiring national parks? Yosemite in California, perhaps, with its soaring cliffs and cascading waterfalls. Well, get in line! About 3.5 million people will enter Yosemite this year. Four and one-half million will beat a path to the Grand Canyon in Arizona. So much for undisturbed wilderness. The National Park Service, which administers these wild places as well as historic sites like Civil War battlefields, must walk a fine line between preserving vistas and wildlife -- and making parks accessible to people and cars. Thirty years ago, according to the Christian Science Monitor...

WASHINGTON — The National Park Service sought out footage of "conservative - right-wing demonstrations" to revise the video shown to visitors at the Lincoln Memorial (search) after being pressured by conservatives who complained the display implied Abraham Lincoln supported abortion, homosexuality and liberal causes. Park Service documents released under the Freedom of Information Act (search) show officials purchased video of President Bush, pro-gun advocates and pro-Iraq war rallies and also considered removing images of Democratic former President Clinton at the memorial. Park Service officials said they wanted the video to be politically balanced but refused to provide a copy of...

WASHINGTON -- What are the biggest charity abuses in America? The answers coming from witnesses testifying at a Senate hearing last Tuesday pointed to practices by nonprofit, tax-exempt groups that are technically legal but violate the spirit of private charity. Those answers are wrong. The biggest abuse is nonprofits that deliberately and habitually break the law. The Senate Finance Committee is currently investigating practices of groups that enjoy exemption from taxation under section 501(c)(3) of the IRS Code. In the past few years, more and more news stories have detailed the questionable practices of nonprofits, from huge CEO compensation packages...

SUNDANCE -- Hey, climbers: Grab your gear and head to the Bear Lodge National Historic Landmark. It's a 1,267-foot monolith rising out of the rim-rocked Belle Fourche River valley near Hulett. Never heard of it? It's also known as Devils Tower, the nation's first national monument. Devils Tower National Monument Superintendent Lisa E. Eckert has made a proposal not to change the Devils Tower moniker, but to give it a historic landmark designation, thus creating Devils Tower National Monument at Bear Lodge National Historic Landmark. Several area residents suspect a hidden agenda to give American Indians more control of the...

If you care about the Gettysburg battlefield, drive out to Devil's Den and look at the beautiful old trees. You won't find many because the park service just cut most of them down. Some of these trees were over a hundred years old. Some were "witness trees" when the Civil War veterans came back to dedicate their monuments. The trees provided a place of shady contemplation in the hot summer sun for thousands of visitors. Many of us who care about the battlefield are sickened by their loss. The park service plans to make the landscape look like 1863 so...

A High-Risk Nuclear Stakeout The U.S. took too long to act, some experts say, letting a Pakistani scientist sell illicit technology well after it knew of his operation. By Douglas Frantz, Times Staff Writer WASHINGTON — Nuclear warhead plans that Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan sold to Libya were more complete and detailed than previously disclosed, raising new concerns about the cost of Washington's watch-and-wait policy before Khan and his global black market were shut down last year. Two Western nuclear weapons specialists who have examined the top-secret designs say the hundreds of pages of engineering drawings and handwritten notes...

THE DALLES, Ore. - The National Park Service has proposed a marked trail to commemorate Ice Age floods through four Western states that left canyons, valleys, lakes and ridges that still dominate the terrain today — some so dramatic they can be seen from outer space. Picture an ice dam 30 miles wide, forming a lake 2,000 feet deep and 200 miles long, stretching from the Idaho panhandle into western Montana, containing more water than Lake Erie and Lake Ontario combined. Now picture that dam giving way, the water thundering out in 48 hours, through four states, across Washington and...

Some people are very upset that a bookstore in Arizona is selling a book called Grand Canyon: A Different View. The bookstore is operated by the National Park Service, you see, and the different view presented in the book is that the mighty gorge came about as the result of the flood. You know, The Flood. The one starring Noah. Thus has censorship come full cycle from the days of John Scopes.

Richard Nixon is remembered mostly as a disgraced liar, but by today's standards (summed up in four words—Dick Cheney Energy Czar) he was one helluva Republican environmentalist. After all, Nixon created the Environmental Protection Agency, signed the Endangered Species Act and the Clean Water Act. The first President Bush was no Nixon, but he did sign the 1990 Clean Air Act. And of course there was President Teddy Roosevelt, the highest regarded Republican environmentalist of them all who helped establish the National Park Service. From its inception in 1916, the agency's core mission was, and legally still is, to conserve...

An organization representing public employees that opposes the presence of a biblical book on the Grand Canyon in National Park Service bookstores contends the federal government has approved the resource despite claims by the agency the matter is still under review. As WorldNetDaily reported, a controversy began brewing in January over the book, "Grand Canyon: A Different View" by veteran Colorado River guide Tom Vail, which claims the Grand Canyon was formed by the Old Testament flood Noah survived and can be no older than a few thousand years. That contention caused some scientists to call for the book to...

Battlefield sites under attack from development Study lists Princeton, Monmouth, Trenton among most endangered in U.S. Friday, May 14, 2004 The Revolutionary War battlefields at Princeton, Monmouth and Trenton are among the most endangered by sprawl and development in the nation, according to a new study by the U.S. National Park Service.The forthcoming review, "The Revolutionary War and War of 1812 Historic Preservation Study," examines 825 nationally significant battlefields and sites associated with the two wars.The New Jersey sites are among the nation's 28 most significant sites in danger, said Rep. Rush Holt (D-12th Dist.)."The study looks at the historical...

CORONADO NATIONAL MEMORIAL - The same day that the National Park Service director visited this border memorial nearly 100 illegal immigrants were apprehended within hours after Fran Mainella left. According to U.S. Border Patrol and memorial officials two National Park Service rangers and a Border Patrol agent were patrolling near the vehicle barrier along the border when they came upon a large group of illegal immigrants. Border Patrol Tucson Sector spokesman Andy Adame said it was around 8:30 p.m. Friday when the agent and rangers came upon the group causing the illegal immigrants to scatter. An agency helicopter was called...

<p>WEST BRANCH, Iowa — Yellow ribbons tied around utility poles to welcome soldiers home from Iraq were removed by the National Park Service (search), which says they are a political statement.</p> <p>About a dozen ribbons were posted along a park service-owned street that runs through the Herbert Hoover National Historic Site (search), where his presidential library, birthplace and gravesite are all located.</p>

<p>Reacting to stern criticism in Congress, the National Park Service sought to dispel notions Thursday that its spending priorities were out of line and that it had muzzled employees who might want to speak out.</p> <p>"Who's minding the store here? Are you all sort of oblivious to what's going on?" Rep. George Nethercutt, R-Wash., demanded of Park Service Director Fran Mainella.</p>

Millions of Americans will flock to the country's national parks this summer. Dazzled by nature and history, will they notice the missing signs, crumbling roads, or disappearance of park rangers? Facing what some people warn is a "crippling" budget shortfall, many national park superintendents are being asked to consider cutting their ranger staffs, services, and visitor center hours—and possibly even closing down completely on certain days. Several advocacy groups now charge that the entire National Park System is menaced by a hidden crisis, and that Park Service officials are trying to cover it up. "Make no mistake about it. There...

Conservation no longer a top spending priority, conference attendees told The lynx are nearly gone, mud snails are heading upstream, frogs are growing extra legs and wildlife management budgets are being cut. The job of a wildlife biologist has always been a bit like being a firefighter in a bone-dry forest during a lightning storm. There's never enough help and always too much heat. But times seem to be getting even more desperate, according to some of the attendees at the nation's top wildlife management conference being held this week in Spokane. "The agencies are pretty much bare bones. We're...

Parks may be doing public disservice By Lee Davidson Deseret Morning News WASHINGTON — The National Park Service told superintendents to mislead the public about service cuts forced by tight budgets, hoping to avoid "public or political controversy" this election year, according to memos released by a group of retired Park Service employees. Denny Huffman, former superintendent of Utah's Dinosaur National Monument, disclosed the memos at a press conference at the National Press Club. He complained the memos were issued just four days before the Park Service kicked off a major campaign last month to attract more visitors. "You...

National Park Rangers 'Endangered'; Leading Parks Advocate Releases Report Outlining Critical Staffing Shortages in Parks 3/16/2004 9:48:00 AM -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- To: National Desk, Environment Reporter Contact: Andrea Keller of the National Parks Conservation Association, 202-454-3332 WASHINGTON, March 16 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The nonpartisan park watchdog, the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) today issued a groundbreaking report on the critical shortage of staff in America's national parks, a shortage that directly affects the experiences of millions of visitors this summer and cripples the ability of the National Park Service to protect the nation's heritage. "America's national park rangers have become an...

<p>WASHINGTON - The Bush administration, ignoring the urging of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and virtually the entire state congressional delegation, said Tuesday that it opposes a $10 million federal grant program to help restore California's 21 crumbling historic missions.</p> <p>"We cannot support this new federal funding commitment at a time when we are trying to focus our available resources on taking care of existing National Park Service responsibilities," P. Daniel Smith, park service special assistant, told a Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee panel.</p>

[I have taken the liberty of excerpting a couple of paragraphs from Mr. Waller's excellent WND article that might be overlooked otherwise. But given the current manufactured outrage at Bush's so-called 9/11 ad, I thought it should be highlighted.] Kerry unrepentant for pro-Hanoi activism Local paper described him as 'closest thing to a male Jane Fonda' Posted: March 6, 20041:00 a.m. Eastern Two years later, [Kerry] ran for the U.S. Senate – dusting off his veteran's credentials by standing in front of the black Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington to shoot a TV campaign ad, defying regulations that the memorial...

Wyoming judge rails at counterpart in Yellowstone case By ROBERT W. BLACK Associated Press Writer CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) - A federal district judge from Wyoming railed at a counterpart in the nation's capital Friday for seizing jurisdiction in a dispute over whether snowmobiles should be banned from Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks. ''I don't see any reason why a judge 2,000 miles from here ought to be deciding things that affect the people of Wyoming,'' U.S. District Judge Clarence Brimmer said of a ruling last month by U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan in Washington, D.C. Sullivan ordered a phase-out...

BROWNSVILLE, Texas (AP) -- A cactus-dotted stretch of land that lay forgotten for more than a century is where the National Park Service decided to put its first site dedicated to the U.S.-Mexican War. Appropriately, the 3,400-acre Palo Alto Battlefield is where U.S. and Mexican soldiers began a fight that led to Mexico losing half its territory and the United States gaining claim to the Southwest. However, the visitor's center, which officially opens Saturday, will feature displays reflecting both U.S. and Mexican perspectives on the war -- in English and Spanish -- in hopes of attracting visitors from both sides...

January 15, 2003 The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is suing the Bush Administration over an eight-foot memorial cross in the Mojave Desert, but that's just the beginning according to Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), a public interest group involved in the suit. PEER claims that the presence of religious materials in national parks is a signal that the Bush Administration's "faith-based initiatives" are headed for the great outdoors. The Interior Department denies that religious encroachment is in any way connected to Bush's agenda. "In my opinion, this is just another political ploy to discredit the Administration," said National...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 17 — To halt the removal of a cross placed in the Mojave National Preserve almost 70 years ago to commemorate World War I veterans, a Republican lawmaker from California has proposed swapping the land it sits on with a private group. The National Park Service recently ordered the return of plaques bearing biblical verses that had hung in Grand Canyon National Park for more than 30 years before they were taken down last summer. The Park Service also approved selling a book at the Grand Canyon that suggests the canyon was created in six days several thousand...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A conservation group's annual list of the 10 "most endangered" national parks has six holdovers from last year, still considered victims of dirty air, inadequate funding and bad policy. The National Parks Conservation Association again named Big Thicket National Preserve in Texas as well as five national parks: Great Smoky Mountains in North Carolina and Tennessee; Joshua Tree in California; Shenandoah in Virginia; Everglades in Florida; and Yellowstone in Wyoming, Montana and Idaho. The group said air pollution threatens many of the parks. In addition, it said there are problems with private land sales and potential oil...

Gay footage will stay in Lincoln Memorial video Footage of gay rights demonstrations will not be removed from a Lincoln Memorial videotape, according to spokespeople from the National Park Service and the Human Rights Campaign. Earlier reports said the images would be removed. Footage of gay rights demonstrations will not be removed from a videotape shown at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C, according to spokespeople from the National Park Service and the Human Rights Campaign. Earlier reports in various news outlets said the gay images would be removed. In a press release yesterday, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility...

<p>The Grand Canyon's tourist railroad on Friday proposed an ambitious $186 million high-speed train as a potential solution to traffic congestion on the South Rim.</p> <p>Grand Canyon Railway's proposal says that its eventual goal is eliminating all tourist vehicles from the South Rim, which is what the U.S. Park Service has said it wants.</p>

<p>Construction will begin soon on landscaped vehicle-barrier walls to thwart terrorist attacks on the Washington Monument, the National Park Service said yesterday, but plans for a tunnel leading to the monument were put on hold.</p> <p>"For security of the Washington Monument, a vehicle-barrier system has final approval," said Vikki Keys, acting superintendent of the Park Service. "Work will soon go forward."</p>