National parks: Another thing government does right
It’s summertime, in case you didn’t notice, and American families all over the country are descending on national parks to enjoy the natural legacy preserved there. I’m headed out West myself pretty soon for a week or so out in the wilds, and am very much looking forward to it.
Come fall, our beautiful national parks system will be the star of documentary maker Ken Burns’ next PBS series, “The National Parks: America’s Best Idea.” But over at National Review’s Corner blog, Iain Murray isn’t impressed:
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.
The instances of ignorance of that paragraph are multiple. First, the conservative antipathy to publicly owned resources is so deep and instinctive that it forces Murray and others to reject even national parks as a good idea. They find themselves trying to assert that converting public land to private ownership would somehow preserve its scenery and natural character while allowing access to the public.
Murray’s suggestion that allowing fire to play its natural role amounts to “environmental degradation,” particularly in a Western landscape such as Yellowstone, is equally ignorant. Fire is natural and necessary. It clears forest for grazing animals such as elk and buffalo, and for fire-dependent plant species.
Moreover, if you refuse to let fire reduce fallen debris and thin forests, if you insist on trying to preserve a natural landscape as if it were some meticulously manicured theme park pleasing to the human eye, unburnt fuel accumulates until a monstrous, highly destructive fire becomes inevitable. Fire is needed to regulate fire.
(And yes, there’s an economic metaphor lurking in there somewhere.)
Finally, there’s Murray’s cavalier dismissal of the opinion of a park-service biologist. Don Despain might be a scientist, an acknowledged expert in the interaction of fire and plant life, but hey, what does a pinhead like that know, right? Research? Science?
Pshaw.
ALSO: We have a thread down below for those who wish to continue the “birther debate.” Please restrict comments on that topic to that thread.
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216 comments Add your comment
George American
July 16th, 2009
1:33 pm
As the wise Ronald Reagen once said, “government is not the solution, government is the problem.”
This includes the park service, who likely hires people who get regected from the DMV.
I Report :-) You Whine :-(
July 16th, 2009
1:34 pm
Gosh, I never knew I was against National Parks.
Imagine that.
Mr. Snarky
July 16th, 2009
1:35 pm
Jay,
But nobody is making money off the natural parks, so clearly nothing good can be happening there.
DeKalb Conservative
July 16th, 2009
1:36 pm
The only thing I can conclude that government does right is delivering the mail
Brad Steel
July 16th, 2009
1:37 pm
Maybe Disney can take over our national parks. The could add National Parks next to the new Sovietland. Now, pardon me while I go puke.
Gandalf, the White! (!)
July 16th, 2009
1:39 pm
Maybe Barry was born in a National Park, do they have them in Kenya?
George American
July 16th, 2009
1:39 pm
Dekalb Conservative, thank you for your contempt of our military men and women.
Or maybe you have forgotten to include them as well as the firemen and policeman, but not so much for teachers, cause they are liberal union members.
Wes
July 16th, 2009
1:41 pm
Jay,
The idea that the parks are scenic is wonderful. Now is it possible that you could make some suggestions about where government is too big or where we are taxed too little so that we can balance the budget. As nice as the scenery is at Yosimite, I’d rather my son had a job and a stable currency than a view he’ll probably only see a couple times in his life.
Bosch
July 16th, 2009
1:42 pm
Yeah! Yellowstone. The most beautiful place on our planet (or what I’ve seen of it).
Bosch
July 16th, 2009
1:43 pm
Wes,
Maybe your son should become a biologist, or a park ranger. Just sayin’
Bosch
July 16th, 2009
1:44 pm
And Wes,
Is it possible for you to start your own blog with your own topic suggestions? Or do you just make a habit of telling others how to do their own job? Just asking.
Gandalf, the White! (!)
July 16th, 2009
1:45 pm
Having your say! Barry is influenced by the feminist little school girl who slept with married men when she was 17 (Stanley), but not the man who slept with his young mother! And as far as FUGLY? Shes ugly inside and out. Sorry, it’s true. She said she wasn’t proud to be an American? FUGLY OPENED HE UGLY MOUTH AND BECAME FAIR Game! She is an American Citizen, she just married the Kenyan!
Gandalf, the White! (!)
July 16th, 2009
1:46 pm
When will Barry convert them to World Parks? I hear that’ the plan!
Kamchak
July 16th, 2009
1:47 pm
G,tW!(!)
Yellow card, or red?
Gandalf, the White! (!)
July 16th, 2009
1:47 pm
Bosch maybe you son should get a job and support Wes’ son!
Redneck Convert
July 16th, 2009
1:53 pm
Well, I’ve been plumb flummoxed ever since I learnt Obama was born in a manger in a stable in Kenya. I know people always called him The One but this is getting kind of strange. I wonder if there was any wise men and maybe a camel or two nearby. I don’t know if I should get down on my knees in front of Obama or maybe try and crucify him.
I’m dead set against these national parks. There they are, thousands of acres of good timber and places for stores and factorys and subdivisions and trailer parks. But you can’t touch them. If we turned Free Innerprize loose on them there would be lots of jobs for people. But I reckon people like Bookman wouldn’t want to visit strip mines or malls or anything like that. No, they got to have the wilderness on our dime. We pay so much in taxes now, we got to have tea parties just to protest. If the guvmint sold all that land it would have enough money to operate and wouldn’t need to steal money from my paycheck.
Anyhow, I’m going to stay tuned in to see if there’s anything more about how this Obama was born. If they find out he didn’t have no earthly father I’m going to start getting worried. Have a good p.m. everybody.
Jen
July 16th, 2009
1:53 pm
GTW,
You’re making comments on someone’s looks? You’re airing out your own personal taste on a human being’s appearance and expect every/anyone to take any/everything else you say seriously?
Seriously?
Peadawg
July 16th, 2009
1:53 pm
“Is it possible for you to start your own blog with your own topic suggestions? Or do you just make a habit of telling others how to do their own job? Just asking.”
Bosch, is it possible for you not to be a jacka**? I’m sure you’ve suggested Wooten do other blogs. O yeah i forgot, like most democrats, you can do it and it’s ok, but we do the same thing, it’s wrong.
Trust me
July 16th, 2009
1:54 pm
Dekalb Conservative, thank you for your contempt of our military men and women.
Or maybe you have forgotten to include them as well as the firemen and policeman, but not so much for teachers, cause they are liberal union members.
And, what is the “conservative” approach to paying these people? Oh, by getting rid of taxes. What a plan.
Scooter
July 16th, 2009
1:55 pm
Gandalf the Great, too funny!
Gale
July 16th, 2009
1:56 pm
Glacier National Park is far more impressive than Yellowstone Park. Wow.
DeKalb Conservative
July 16th, 2009
1:56 pm
George American-
Boo hoo, I didn’t include military men and women, plus police and fire. Cry me a river of pandering.
- While the vast majority of individual military men and women make excellent contributions, the divisions of armed services as a whole are a bloated mess (ex. when was the last time an F-22 hit anything in the air other than a bird flying by). Don’t confuse individual person’s contributions with the efficiency of an organization.
- Police: Atlanta is the bank robbing capital of the U.S. I’m open to examples of saying the police is a cost effective, efficiently well run organization.
- Fire: When your job as a public servant, ie you decided to serve the public becomes compromised because of the actions of some calling out sick, then the entire organization suffers, especially when those parties are not removed from the organization.
On that note, I’ll expand my statement that the govt is excellent at delivering mail and maintaining parks that are magnets for people to get assaulted and raped.
Doggone/GA
July 16th, 2009
1:57 pm
“As the wise Ronald Reagen once said, “government is not the solution, government is the problem.””
Only when it is run by people with a vested interest in making that statement true.
Doggone/GA
July 16th, 2009
1:57 pm
“do they have them in Kenya”
Yes
Normal
July 16th, 2009
1:58 pm
Gandalf, the White! (!)
July 16th, 2009
1:39 pm
Maybe Barry was born in a National Park, do they have them in Kenya?
———–
Yes they do…and with wild animals, too…you really should go….
——————–
But National Parks, the best thing a Great Republican ever did. President Teddy Roosevelt, Conservationist, Slayer of Big Business “Dragons”, Who always said, “Walk softly, but carry a big stick”. The very model of todays Republican party…Oh wait, strike
that last sentence….
DeKalb Conservative
July 16th, 2009
1:58 pm
Trust me-
When your tax revenue system revolves around “the few” funding the services for “the many” then you open the door to “the few” to move business and set up elsewhere.
Look to CA as the poster child of what not to do.
Peadawg
July 16th, 2009
1:59 pm
“Only when it is run by people with a vested interest in making that statement true.”
Which, sadly, is EVERY single politician, dem, repub, independent, etc. All politicians are scumbags.
Troll Alert!
July 16th, 2009
1:59 pm
Jen,
FYI, Gandalf is a troll. And not a very good one. She/he is just fishing for over reactions. Ignore.
Bosch
July 16th, 2009
2:03 pm
Peadawg,
My my such language. And I thought you wingnuts were supposed to be so nice. I’m sorry, I didn’t realize you and Wes were so close and that you had to step in and defend him. My apologies. I don’t blog over at Wooten’s, and if I did, I wouldn’t tell him how to do his job, and if I didn’t like the topic, I wouldn’t whine incessantly about him writing about something else that suits me. I’m not self-centered that way.
Normal
July 16th, 2009
2:04 pm
DeKalb Conservative
July 16th, 2009
1:56 pm
——–
Decalb, if they would only build banks beside Krispy Kremes, then there wouldn’t be that problem. That would save enough money to get the Firefighters the stuff they need, See? A simple solution…Just sayin’
Matilda
July 16th, 2009
2:04 pm
Doggone, GREAT point at 1:57! “You hate government! I hate government! Elect me to run the government! I promise to do a sh–y job and prove that government s–ks! Then you can tell everybody you’re a *bleep bleep* genius!” Yep. That’s what they wanted; that’s what they got.
Bosch
July 16th, 2009
2:04 pm
Gandalf,
If Wes’ son became a park ranger, then we’d all be supporting him through our taxes! Park Rangers are cool.
SotomayorMcCheese
July 16th, 2009
2:05 pm
The victims of Katrina wouldve been quite safe in the national parks had Mr Bush/AntiChrist chosen to move the FEMA trailers there in time.
George American
July 16th, 2009
2:05 pm
Dekalb Conservative,
Your right. Soldiers, fireman, policemen and their government employee like are good-for-nothing, incompetent, government-employee boobs. The government can’t do nothing right. We conservatives should cut all there funding to and rely more on the private markets.
Peadawg
July 16th, 2009
2:05 pm
So a suggestion on an open opinion blog is telling someone how to do their job? Wow you lefties take things way too seriously.
Gandalf, the White! (!)
July 16th, 2009
2:05 pm
Jen, do you think Michelle is attractive?
I Report :-) You Whine :-(
July 16th, 2009
2:06 pm
You’re airing out your own personal taste on a human being’s appearance and expect every/anyone to take any/everything else you say seriously?
Michelle Obama Bringing Glamor To Moscow This Weekend-CBS “News”
We’re not blind, y’all.
Even if she wasn’t fat she still looks like Idi Amin.
Deal with it.
TnGelding
July 16th, 2009
2:06 pm
George American
July 16th, 2009
1:33 pm
Wonder how many of the park service employees are veterans?
Dusty
July 16th, 2009
2:07 pm
Well, what do you know? Bookman has now turned himself into an environmental scientist. Al Gore, move over. Another self educated “expert” has come forth.
I wonder how many of you libs are even members of the National Parks Conservation Association? Bookman? Yep, I am a conservative who belongs to the NPCA. Just call up http://www.npca.org and they will give you lotsa info on ACTUALLY doing something for the parks.
In the meantime, the government seems to be the only one trying to save something for our descendents. The NPCS tries to help. Teddy Roosevelt saw the future and saved the Grand Canyon among other treasures that have become National Parks.
Let’s hope that Bookman can save a pine cone or two if that is his aim. Is it political or is it conservation? Hard to tell. Conservatives love national parks just as much as anybody. Bookman quotes one man’s book of differences as an overall conservative voice. Not so. Never was. Isn’t now.
Normal
July 16th, 2009
2:07 pm
Peadawg and Wes sittin’ in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g…just supossin’
DB, Gwinnettian
July 16th, 2009
2:08 pm
Jen, do you think Michelle is attractive?
Peggy Noonan does. I think that’s why Whiner’s really so upset with her.
Bosch
July 16th, 2009
2:09 pm
Hey Dusty!
Did you get my message about how to make an eye roll guy?
Gandalf, the White! (!)
July 16th, 2009
2:10 pm
Bosch: cool and a good job too!
Dusty
July 16th, 2009
2:11 pm
Sorry, Normal. I did not read your Teddy Roosevelt mention until I had posted. Ah, great minds with but a ………oh nevermind.
Joey
July 16th, 2009
2:12 pm
I am a firm believer in controlled burning. But if we accept Don Despain’s words, “Burn, baby, burn.” as a guide to our behavior, then why do we risk the lives of forest fire fighters at any and every natural or man made fire?
And Jay, this post shows again:
What you don’t know about Conservatives would fill volumes.
TnGelding
July 16th, 2009
2:15 pm
Dusty
July 16th, 2009
2:07 pm
You seem to be the only one here that does, so far.
Normal
July 16th, 2009
2:15 pm
DUSTY, paisions, tu jours, paisions….
Wes
July 16th, 2009
2:15 pm
Bosch,
How do you convince people to modify a position if you don’t talk to them?
If I’m coming across as whining, I apologize. I see a problem right now. I’d like to address it. If we don’t do something about it, I’m concerned that it will affect everyone in this country.
Convincing the people that agree with me doesn’t do a lot of good. Therefore a blog which appeals to people who are biased towards my point of view doesn’t do a lot of good.
Jay
July 16th, 2009
2:15 pm
Actually, Dusty, having lived and worked out West for a good part of my career, and having covered federal lands for a lot of that time, I can tell you that attacks on government ownership of land is a staple of Western Republicanism. From the Sagebrush Rebellion to PERC (Property and Environment Research Center) to groups such as the American Land Rights Association, they all take that issue seriously.
Dusty
July 16th, 2009
2:16 pm
Dear boschie,
Yep, I am up to snuff and all that stuff and rolling my eyes ’til the tears come down. Didn’t you get my message? Ohhh all those good words wasted? (PS..How’s the tummy? Still growling? I hope not Here’s your cheer for today..:roll: !!!Yeyyy Rock ”n’ roll!