Where I Stand — Mike O’Callaghan: These are your parks

Friday, Aug. 1, 2003 | 9:18 a.m.

AMERICANS WHO LOVE and use our nation's parks have been wondering when former secretaries of the Interior were going to speak. Two of them did just that Tuesday when Bruce Babbitt and Stewart Udall challenged the attempt to privatize the positions servicing the parks and their public visitors. Both challenged the present secretary's attempt to have almost all of the loyal public servants replaced by private sector employees. They both see the turning over of 70 percent of these jobs to the private sector as both "radical" and "reckless."

This situation has outdoor enthusiasts recalling when Interior Secretary Gale Norton's mentor, then-Interior boss James Watt, had his own agenda that threatened public lands and parks. That's when a former assistant secretary from the Ford and Nixon years, Nathaniel Reed, recommended that President Ronald Reagan fire Watt.

It was in May 1981, during a speech, when Reed reminded his fellow Republicans of their party's role in protecting public lands. He started by telling them it was President Abraham Lincoln who first withdrew Yosemite Valley for protection, U.S. Grant's signing of a bill to create Yellowstone, and Theodore Roosevelt's creation of the Forest Service and the first national wildlife refuge. Yes, and it was Dwight D. Eisenhower who created the Arctic Game Refuge that Norton now wants to drill for oil.

Then Reed went to work on Watt saying, "But two of Watt's actions have convinced me that he is already a disaster as secretary. One of these is his butchery of the Land and Water Conservation Fund. The other is the talk that he delivered to the Conference of National Park Concessioners on March 9 of this year -- surely one of the most fawning, disgusting performances ever given by a Secretary of the Interior. He was so eager to please that he all but gave away the park system."

Privatization of the service forces within our park system would be but the first deadly step to turning them away from public recreation into a big business. Next they could have neon signs at park gates leading to Yellowstone Enron, RCA Zion, U.S. Cellular Crater Lake or Death Valley Coors. How about Basin Bank One? They already have signs in big city ballparks and this could be their next big step.

If Nevada Sen. Harry Reid has his way this won't happen. Reid's Park Professionals Protection Act, if passed, will take care of this challenge. It is designed to "prohibit the study or implementation of any plan to privatize, divest, or transfer any part of the mission, function, or responsibility of the National Park Service."

In support of his bill, Reid gave some insight to the work of park professionals when writing: "Many of these Park Service jobs have direct contact with visitors to our parks. They not only collect fees and maintain parks but also give directions, fight wildfires when necessary, and provide emergency medical assistance to injured park visitors. They are not required to do these things; they are driven by a love for the parks and a commitment to public service that contractors lack.

"Privatizing the Park Service would jeopardize our national parks. Members of the Park Service have a career-long interest in maintaining the parks and perform their jobs because they are dedicated to serving the public. They often go beyond the call of duty to fix a problem in the middle of the night or change a tire for an unlucky park visitor. Can we be sure that a contractor would do the same? No."

Friends of our national parks have suddenly awakened and the gloves are off. Let's hope it's not too late. How about Basin Bank One?