National Park Watch

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NPW Editor — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 21:26:56 +0000

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DOI Secretary Appoints Lobbyist to Chair of NPS Concessions Management Advisory Board

NPW Editor — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 19:29:52 +0000

According to the Jackson Hole Daily, Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne has appointed Clay W. James chairman of the National Park Service Concessions Management Advisory Board. Mr. James sat on the board of directors for the National Park Hospitality Association (NPHA), a group based in Washington, D.C. that, according to its website, acts to “increase [...]

Oak Creek Canyon: Zion’s Junk Yard

NPW Editor — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 04:53:37 +0000

Zion National Park’s Oak Creek Canyon by Anonymous. My, that’s a beautiful tree. Too bad about all that incompatible development around it. On January 11, I posted an article on the NPS’s seeming hypocrisy toward privately owned inholdings. In a Christian Science Monitor article, Zion’s Chief Ranger worried about private property owners’ potential “incompatible development” and expressed [...]

Grass is for Trampling; Civil Rights are not

NPW Editor — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 07:27:50 +0000

National Mall War Protest 1/27/07 by JW Landis Hey, buddy! We are not seeking to restrict First Amendment demonstrations whatsoever! Now get off the grass before we arrest you! The Washington Post has a story you won’t find on a national park traveler and tourism site. A few years back, offended Christian conservatives pressured the NPS [...]

National Park Service Junk Yards

NPW Editor — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 22:23:08 +0000

A hazardous chemicals stockpile at Crater Lake National Park - Photo by NPW Editor In the previous post, I challenged the National Park Service’s condemnation of development of private inholdings because the NPS has created development that marred the landscape. I mentioned a junk yard in Zion National Park’s Oak Creek Canyon. Wanting to give [...]

Incompatible Development: NPS Hypocrisy

NPW Editor — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 20:27:26 +0000

Zion Lodge by BigPhilUK Do as I say, not as I do: Is maintaining a lawn in a desert incompatible with Zion National Park’s mission? A previous article discussed how a federal plan bypassed private property rights in a proposed power line corridor. A recent Christian Science Monitor article, When pieces of national parks go on sale, [...]

Governmental Threat to Joshua Tree National Park

NPW Editor — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 03:53:04 +0000

PHOTO: Starlight over Joshua Tree by Laura Travels Would become “Power Lines over Joshua Tree” if Fed has way Bypassing the standard environmental review process, the federal government has designed a 70,000-square-mile power line corridor that crosses Joshua Tree National Park, Carrizo Plain National Monument, and Sonoran Desert National Monument.Thankfully, the plan is being challenged. A lawsuit [...]

NGO: Property & Environment Research Center

NPW Editor — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 20:55:47 +0000

Property & Environment Research Center (PERC) is one of America’s first non-profit free market environmental organizations. According to PERC’s website, it’s: the nation’s oldest and largest institute dedicated to original research that brings market principles to resolving environmental problems. Located in Bozeman, Montana, PERC pioneered the approach known as free market environmentalism, which is based [...]

NGO: Foundation for Research on Economics & the Environment

NPW Editor — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 19:20:21 +0000

Foundation for Research on Economics & the Environment (FREE) is a Montana-based think tank. FREE’s mission: FREE advances conservation and environmental values by applying modern science and America’s founding ideals to policy debates. We are intellectual entrepreneurs, explaining how economic incentives, secure property rights, the rule of law, and responsible prosperity can foster a healthy environment. FREE [...]

Blog: Environmental Economics

NPW Editor — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 16:31:49 +0000

Environmental Economics: Economists on Environmental and Natural Resources: News, Opinion, and Analysis Economists Tim Haab and John Whitehead author an environmental economics blog that is surprisingly entertaining, understandable, and often humorous. Its mission: The Environmental Economics blog is dedicated to the dissemination of economists’ views on current environmental and natural resource issues. We hope this blog will [...]