Editorial: National parks at risk

Saturday, Oct. 29, 2005 | 10:09 a.m.

In both front country and back country, the sensation has always been pretty much the same for the visitors to our national parks. There in full view is natural majesty, a rich, diverse majesty that symbolizes America and its heritage. We have nearly 400 national parks whose scenery ranges from mountainous grizzly bear habitat, to deserts that support stands of giant saguaro cactus, to wetlands providing sanctuary for alligators and birds of prey.

Throughout our park system there are thousands of species of wildlife and insects. The diversity of trees and plants is awe-inspiring. Rivers, streams and lakes are plentiful. Amid all of this natural wonder there are artifacts to remind us that we inherited this treasure from long-ago generations, and that we have a duty, as they had, to preserve it.

But we are beginning to fail in that duty. Every national park in America is being steadily degraded by thieves who have little trouble evading our severely understaffed National Park Service rangers. For big money that is paid by unscrupulous buyers, these thieves, or poachers, brazenly enter parks and nothing in these officially protected areas is safe from them.

Black bears, for example, are killed because their gallbladders are valuable for use in Asian medicines. Ginseng plants are disappearing because buyers believe they have healing and sexual enhancement qualities. Butterflies and other interesting insects are captured for collectors.

This week the Las Vegas Sun spoke with Bill Wade, who lives in Tucson and is the chairman of the 440-member Coalition of National Park Service Retirees. He acknowledged the extent of the problem and expressed his frustration. "Poachers are committing crimes against the very resources the National Park Service is supposed to protect," he said.

Park service rangers cannot put a dent in the poaching because they are hopelessly outnumbered. A report this week by the Reno Gazette-Journal gave the figures for the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest, which stretches into Southern Nevada: 6.3 million acres guarded by six full-time rangers and one part-time ranger. This figure reflects staffing throughout the park system. Wade praised the training of rangers and said they would be highly effective against environmental crimes, if only there were more of them.

With the ongoing war against terror and the billions needed for hurricane relief, it's more than likely that national parks will remain a low priority for federal funding. The best hope lies with a bill in Congress introduced in March by Reps. Mark Souder, R-Ind., and Brian Baird, D-Wash. The bill would give U.S. taxpayers, via a check-off on their federal income tax returns, the chance to contribute to national parks. The check-off would continue until 2016, which is the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service.

We support this bill and believe that millions of other Americans would appreciate the chance to help save their parks.