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Imagine that you've just loaded the family in the station wagon and you are about to embark on vacation. The kids are excited and can hardly wait to get to Opryland, USA. Rollercoasters, and cotton candy are swirling around in their heads. And the question, "How long 'til we get there?" is offered up by these young enthusticates approximately every 15 minutes.
However, this year you have decided to add some cultural diversity to your vacation. You have decided to stop at an historic site, Stones River National Battlefield, Murfreesboro, Tennessee. About an hour from the battlefield you start explaining some of the general causes of the civil war. At first, your children seem barely interested.
"Approximately 129 years ago a great and fierce battle took place at the Stones River. The Union army needed a boost after a huge defeat at Fredericksburg. This boost was given when General Bragg's Confederate troops were forced to withdraw allowing the Union troops under the command of General Rosecrans to take control of middle Tennessee." Your children become mesmerized as you go on, "In 1865, Stones River National Cemetery was established within the battlefield and is home to more than 6,000 Union graves."
As you pull up to this historic area, something amazing has happened. Your children actually seem interested in something other than Pokemon. They carefully watch the slide show offered by the visitor center and hang on your words as you go to visit the battlefield. You mention that this was a war when brother fought brother. They begin to ask questions that surprise you, and make you proud of them. You point out the Hazen Monument, believed by some to be the oldest Civil War Monument. Then your youngest son points in the other direction and says, "Hey… why is there a Dell Computer building (proposed) on the battlefield?" The moment is lost.
Last year, the National Park Service identified 20 national parks as high priorities for Land & Water Appropriations. They requested $70.5 million to acquire these privately owned lands in these 20 high priority parks, yet only received $44.4 million. This left a deficit of $26.1 million. Putting it another way, the park service received only 63% of the money it requested. If Congress were to be graded on this effort, they would receive an "D".
Congress approved the creation of the Land and Water Conservation Fund nearly three decades ago for this very purpose: the acquisition of private lands to acquire and complete our national and state park resources. Congress has been slow in allocating the $5 billion, which has accumulated since the fund's inception. Accumulating almost $900 million each year from excise fees placed on oil exploration on the outer continental shelf, 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. Even though the funds are there waiting to be used!
America prides itself on having the first and finest national system of parks-and we do. But, if we continue to allow Congress to under fund land acquisition projects; if we continue to allow developers to gobble up important pieces of our parklands; if we continue to turn a blind eye to the disintegration of our national parklands from the inside out; then… In the annals of history, we should be prepared to wear the title of the generation that chose to forfeit our national parks, or the title of those who "finished the dream."
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.
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