national parks

Solving America’s Problems

by Ryan Young on May 20, 2010

in Economy, Politics as Usual, Zeitgeist

The days of trillion-dollar deficits, multiple land wars in Asia, and other catastrophes may soon be coming to an end. Congress continues to work long and hard to solve America’s most important problems. Take a look at some of the legislation that passed on May 18:

-H. Res. 1256: congratulating Phil Mickelson on winning the 2010 Masters golf tournament

-H. Res. 792: honoring Robert Kelly Slater for his outstanding and unprecedented achievements in the world of surfing and for being an ambassador of the sport and excellent role model

-H. Res. 1297: supporting the goals and ideals of American Craft Beer Week.

-H.R. 4491: to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to conduct a study of alternatives for commemorating and interpreting the role of the Buffalo Soldiers in the early years of the National Parks, and for other purposes

I applaud each and every one of these bills, frivolous though they are. Each one took a good deal of time to write and to put through committee. Each one was given 40 minutes of floor debate, though less than that was typically used. All of that time and effort was not spent further destroying the economy with more substantive legislation.

Most states get by with part-time legislatures. Congress would do well to follow suit. In the meantime, as long as Congress is full-time, it should devote as much time as possible to trivial bills like the ones listed above.

America’s Worst Idea?

by Iain Murray on July 16, 2009 · 2 comments

in Culture, Environment, Private Conservation, Zeitgeist

I’m very sorry to see that Ken Burns’ new film series is to be entitled The National Parks: America’s Best Idea. As I detail extensively in my book The Really Inconvenient Truths, the nationalization of so much wonderful scenery has led to appalling mismanagement and environmental degradation.  When the Parks Service and Forest Service spent hours in 1988 debating whether or not a fire counted as “natural” because it started from a lighning bolt striking a telegraph pole, large areas of Yellowstone National Park burned to ashes.  Another park service biologist, Don Despain, saw the flames raging towards his research area and urged them on with the words, “Burn, baby, burn.”  These are the tales I can’t imagine you’ll see in Burns undoubtedly beautiful film, but they’re as much a part of the National Park story as the scenery.

For more detailed critique of the National Parks idea, see work by RJ Smith, such as this testimony, where he says:

For decades we have known about the deplorable fact that the National Park Service was far more interested in following a path of ever more land acquisition, and that caring for the lands they had was at best an afterthought. The administration of President Ronald Reagan and Interior Secretary James Watt attempted, mainly unsuccessfully, to stop additional land acquisition until the government could demonstrate that it could be a good steward of the lands it already owned.

Despite their beauty, the National Parks have not been an unalloyed good.  For the very reason that they explicitly reject private stewardship, they may even count as one of America’s worst ideas.