Monthly message from
NPT President, Paul Pritchard

November 2004

      T hings are changing here in Washington, but they are being felt in all of the parks. And we need your advice!

Both the Administration and the Congress have taken the view that the parks should be limited in protection (e.g., snowmobiles), more responsive to the Administration (e.g., termination of Park Police management), and more focused on tourism, often at the expense of resource protection and park personnel.

Of particular concern to the National Park Trust is the significantly reduced budget for park management and acquisition. Our mission is to protect parks through the completion of acquisitions. But it is difficult to assure protection when there is limited funding to acquire and manage the parks. Worse, can we justify acquisitions full well knowing that the limited staffing in the park will likely mean that the new addition will get little attention/protection?

The board of the National Park Trust has decided to look carefully at this dilemma in an upcoming planning meeting.

We welcome your comments. Please let me know what you think NPT's game plan should be. We need your input.

Please email me at paul@parktrust.org . Until then . . .

Best regards, Paul C. Pritchard National Park Trust (NPT) (202) 548-0500 npt@parktrust.org http://www.parktrust.org

Past Issues October 2004 September 2004