20 National Parks
with acreage identified as high priority purchases.

Private Development Inside America’s Parks Deemed Major Threat,New Report Says

National Park Trust declares "in-holdings" major threat to sanctity of America’s parks, urges
citizens to create solutions

More than 200,000 acres of privately held land within the boundaries of America’s treasured parks are in "imminent" danger of being lost to development or sale and neither federal nor state park agencies can do much to protect this acreage, according to a report released today by the National Park Trust.

"The danger that this land could be sold for development, bulldozing, clear cutting or for other destructive purposes constitutes the single greatest threat to the nation’s cherished system of national and state parks," said Paul Pritchard, President of the National Park Trust.

"We have to realize that the solution to this problem really is in the hands of Americans who want to see these lands protected. Government action is needed and private citizens should demand action at all levels of government. But government action alone is not going to be able to solve this problem for us in the short term."

While the National Park Service recognizes about 200,000 acres of these in-holdings as "imminently threatened," there are many millions of acres owned by private individuals within 84 million acres of national parks. Currently, individuals or private entities own more than six million acres within the parks that could eventually be lost to development or private purchase.

The problem is getting worse. In the last decade alone, the amount of private property within America’s parks increased by more than 1.6 million acres, or 35 percent.

Examples of these threatened in-holdings include:

• At Loon Lake in Alaska, a public university has subdivided land around a pristine lake, one of the state’s most important protected waterfowl areas. Lots are for sale to the highest bidder and Congress has prevented the federal government from buying back the land.
  
• A family who has owned property for generations in Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming has subdivided the acreage and is preparing to sell the property with the blessing of the local county government that is interested in the potential economic benefits. The price of this land has skyrocketed,preventing federal officials from acquiring the property.

While development on private land within parks is the most serious issue, a number of serious problems can result while land remains outside the control of the parks. For example, trees can be logged, energy exploration and even mining can occur and serious erosion can result. The building of a single residence can profoundly alter the setting of previously undeveloped, natural land.

While the threat of losing this precious property grows, park officials find themselves constrained by a lack of funds or authority to intervene on the public’s behalf. For example, in 1998 Congress provided only $23 million for national park land acquisition, despite the agency’s request for $230 million. At the state level, few park agencies have the authority to rescue property from being bulldozed, developed, clear cut or destroyed.

The 200,000 threatened acres exist because of a slowdown in funding that began in the 1980s, when the Reagan Administration greatly cut back on purchasing private land within the parks. Although purchases of private lands have increased in the most recent years, the number of privately-owned acres within the parks has increased as well.

Although Congress approved nearly three decades ago the creation of the Land Water and Conservation Fund for the purpose of acquiring private land, Washington has been slow to make more than $5 billion allocated to the fund available for use by federal, state and local park officials.

The fund accumulates almost $900 million each year from excise fees placed on oil exploration on the outer continental shelf. However, Congress must approve annually the amount of funds that can be withdrawn. In recent years, Congress has approved only a fraction of the funds needed to acquire private lands.

Efforts by the National Park Trust and other organizations have played a major role in acquiring property for parks. Recently, NPT acquired more than 10,000 acres of threatened tallgrass prairie in Kansas for use as a park. That facility will be operated by the National Park Service but the land will be owned by National Park Trust and protected thanks to the contributions of private individuals.

"Americans have a deep and abiding respect for land and open spaces," Pritchard said. "Organizations like ours make it possible for concerned citizens to do something beyond just pushing for more federal dollars. By pooling the resources of those who want to protect our parks we can make a real difference."

# # #

Attention Journalists: To obtain a copy of the report "Saving the Legacy of the National System of Parks", please contact Susan Hawley, National Park Trust, 202-548-0500.

Copyright 1999 National Park Trust
URL: http://www.parktrust.org