CNN Environment

Yosemite smothered by fans

November 9, 1995
Web posted at: 5:05 p.m. EST

From Correspondent Bruce Burkhardt

Paul Pritchard

YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, California (CNN) -- Paul Pritchard, president of the National Parks and Conservation Association, is worried.

mountains

"The park system is the reference guide to what makes us unique as a nation," he said. "If we lose these parks, we're basically saying that heritage and what is unique about Americans is not important." (153K AIFF sound or 153K WAV sound)

Pritchard is an advocate for what one British diplomat once observed was American democracy's greatest gift to the world: the national park system.

TRAFFIC

He enjoys bringing visitors through a narrow trail to Nevada Falls, one of several towering waterfalls that are Yosemite's chief attraction. "Every time you look, you see a different view, different seasons," he said. But the park is plagued with problems. The most significant problem, Pritchard believes, is air pollution, followed by car noise and the constant interchange between people. The net effect is to "make the nature, what you came to see, disappear because it can't tolerate that," Pritchard said.

squirrel and trash

Overuse and underfunding aren't the only stresses the parks are under. Pritchard sees a new threat coming from Washington. "For the Park Service, I'd say the morale is as low as I've seen it. The attitude that the way to save the federal government's budget is by cutting back on the units in the National Park System just doesn't ring true."

What concerns Pritchard is a piece of Republican-sponsored legislation that would form a Park Review Commission much like the commission that shut down military bases. Rep. Joel Hefley, R-Colorado, spoke in favor of the legislation. "There are some parks that may not meet the standards, but probably most do," he said. "And there are some parks that are being proposed for the future that definitely don't meet the standards, which we don't want in the system draining off the resources." Pritchard believes the legislation could open up for criticism all public lands, parks and wilderness areas alike.

crowds at the concession stand

Also worrisome to Pritchard are proposals to hand over greater control to concessionaires, allowing them to operate more independently. "There's no way they could get away with what's being proposed, by Republicans and Democrats alike, if the American people realized what is at risk," Pritchard said. "I believe they would stand up and say, 'We need to protect Yosemite.'"



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