Vol 2, # 111

   Monday, November 2, 1998

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YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK (YNET) -- Many politicians are known for wanting to have it both ways.  This is true in the West as well as anywhere else.  Consider this: some conservative Wyoming officials are now threatening to sue the National Park Service over a series of sewage spills in Yellowstone during the past year.  What's wrong with this picture?   Plenty.

Republicans have spent the past two decades trying to destroy (or at least cripple) the National Park Service and the Environmental Protection Agency.  While Yellowstone officials since the 1980s have begged Congress to allocate funding for back-logged needs such as road construction, trail maintenance and outdated sewage facilities, Congress has resolutely ignored the pleas and has, instead, forced the National Park Service to spend millions upon millions of much-needed funding on projects which the National Park Service does not want to do!  In effect, certain members of Congress have turned the NPS into their own personal pork barrel, against the will of the NPS.

While forcing the NPS to do their bidding, these same members of Congress have tried to hoodwink the American people into believing that the NPS itself is to blame for what Congress is forcing it to do.  The ploy of threatening to sue Yellowstone over sewage problems is another pathetic attempt to blame the Park Service for what those same congresspersons have forced the Park Service to do.  It is certain congressional representatives that have made certain in recent years that funding was withheld from Yellowstone for road repair, trail maintenance and infrastructure ... and now this same group of folks is making a big show of getting in a huff over Yellowstone officials not attending to the needs of the Park, when in fact they were the ones who forced Yellowstone officials to neglect their duties!

The American people, and Yellowstone, deserve better than politicians playing both sides of the fence to make themselves look good.  It is time for Congress to stop playing the National Park Service like a puppet and let Yellowstone's officials do their job.

Click here to write to your congressperson.

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CONTRIBUTING WRITERS AND COLUMNISTS

Ralph Maughan
Kim Steinbacher
Kevin Sanders
Steve Brashear
Clint Wilkes
Tim Gourley
Hon. Bob Gammage
Ruth Colter-Frick
Lee Whittlesey
Tom Mazzarisi
Russ Finley
David Monteith
Denise Elmer
Dr. Bob Bara

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK (Sierra Club) -- The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service wants to delist the grizzly bear in Yellowstone.

Is this great news, an indication that this lumbering, resourceful and sometimes ornery embodiment of the western spirit has made a successful comeback? Are Sierra Club agents in Montana pricing cases of champagne?

Hardly.

Said Louisa Willcox, project coordinator for the Sierra Club Grizzly Bear Ecosystem Project, "Grizzly levels in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem are about as low today as they were when the population was listed as threatened in 1975. Fish and Wildlife is arguing that the population is sufficient enough to delist because they're equating seeing more bears with there being more bears. In reality, scientific studies show that the bears are just moving closer in to humans partly because of dwindling food sources and habitat." There are currently only a few
hundred grizzlies in the region, a minute fraction of the levels when Lewis and Clark passed through. Delisting would remove current prohibitions on killing and harassing the grizzly, a step that would increase human-caused grizzly deaths.

"Proposed oil and gas developments in the Bridger-Teton, Shoshone and Targhee national forests would have to be severely modified or scrapped if the bears - and their habitat - retain their protections," said Willcox. This translates into pressure on Fish and Wildlife to delist the bear, and the Club is afraid this could translate into extinction in the long haul. Grizzly bears are considered a "coal mine canary" species, large barometers of the health of an ecosystem. If bears and their habitat lose Endangered Species Act protections, the untouched land around stream headwaters could also suffer. This spells trouble for human communities and all species whose future is linked to the land.

To Take Action: Call or write U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Jamie Clark and Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt, and tell them that delisting is premature.

Both can be reached at the Department of Interior: 1849 C St. NW, Washington, DC 20240. Babbitt: (202) 208-7351; bruce_babbitt@doi.gov; Clark:(202) 208-4717; jamie_clark@fws.gov.

Write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper explaining your concerns about premature delisting.

Sign up to participate in our grizzly recovery network:
Sierra Club Grizzly Bear Ecosystems Project, 234 E.
Mendenhall, Bozeman, MT 59715; (406) 582-8365, fax
(406) 582-9417; wildgriz@aol.com.

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SEQUOIA NATIONAL PARK, Cal. -- One of the most important features of Sequoia National Park, is the Giant Forest. Trees here can be seen as John Muir viewed them in 1875. Despite their huge, massive size, the General Sherman, for example, which towers more than 274 feet, these trees are very susceptible to root disturbances. Sequoias have shallow, surface root systems.

For decades, the lodge at Giant Forest Village, has been welcoming visitors from around the world, enabling them to "sleep among the giants". These giants, despite their age of more than
2,000 years, have not slowed their growth. Sewage pipes from the lodge were constantly clogged by growing roots, and clearing the pipes, injured the trees. Some visitors, despite warnings and pleas to stay off the area beneath the trees, venture off the paths to stand against the giants.

As a result, to preserve the Giants, Giant Forest Village, is being razed. What will remain is the historic market, becoming a museum on the sequoias. The area now occupied by the lodge, restaurant, and bookstore, will revert to nature.

Perhaps it is that humans are beginning to appreciate nature, realizing the great wealth within our National Parks. However, when I witness visitors picking moss off the sequoias, standing beyond the barriers set to protect the fragile root systems, or walking their pets at the base of the trees, I have to ask a question. Is it an appreciation of nature, or a need to do whatever one wants to do, disregarding the consequences to nature and fellow man?

We were privileged to both dine and sleep among the Giants this spring. It was an experience which future generations will not have. We all must learn to live with nature, respect it, and not
put our own selfish, momentary wants before those of all of humanity.

On Thursday, October 29, 1998, the last guests slept among the giants. Sleep well, Giant Forest Village, for your history will live forever.

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JAPAN -- A planned tunnel through a national park in Japan threatens the habitat of the Japanese pika and has spurred a lawsuit against the Japanese government to stop its construction. Pikas, which are part of the lagomorph family, are among some of the world's rarest mammals, said Dr. Andrew Smith, a conservation biologist who recently went to Japan to help a grassroots effort to save the pika.

Click here to read the full story.

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