Bush wants more parks

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyo. – Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne says President Bush has directed him to develop projects that will help prepare the National Park Service for its second century of conservation.

Speaking at the opening ceremonies for a new visitors center in Yellowstone National Park on Friday, Kempthorne said Bush issued a memorandum in honor of the 90th anniversary of the Park Service directing him to develop projects that combine private and public funds for the benefit of the Park Service and its visitors.

Bush proposed no new federal money for the projects, government officials said.

“These programs, including parks, are on a flight path to get even slimmer, and the idea that they’re going to throw a fiesta, rather than provide funding, isn’t all that meaningful,” Jeff Ruch, executive director of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility in Washington, said in response to Kempthorne’s announcement.

The federal Government Accountability Office reported in April that America’s national parks are increasingly cutting back on visitor services, education programs and protections for natural and cultural resources because their funding has failed to keep pace with rising operating costs.

Among the findings in the GAO report were that decreasing numbers of law enforcement officers and emergency dispatchers at Yellowstone threaten the park’s ability to provide emergency services.

Al Nash, spokesman for Yellowstone, said Friday it was his sense that Kempthorne shared “what he received as a commitment from the president to help move the parks into the future. It was an upbeat, positive message. …

“Budgets are tight, everybody would tell you that, whether it’s Yellowstone, or any other national park or government entity,” Nash said.

“It is a reality that we are all challenged to do our very best as stewards of the taxpayers’ dollars, and of special places like Yellowstone.”

The Interior Department said about $8.6 million of the $10.5 million cost of the new Canyon Visitor Education Center dedicated Friday came from entrance fees paid by the 20 million people who visited the park between 1997 and 2005.

Kempthorne said the new center “will enable visitors to research the largest and most violent volcanoes on Earth, learn about geysers and hot springs and mud pots, and experience the incredible and diverse ecosystem this geology supports.”