Subject: U.S. Congress Urged to Buy National Park "Inholdings"
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Forest Networking a Project of forests.org
8/25/99
OVERVIEW & COMMENTARY BY EE
Large contiguous areas of intact forest ecosystems are required to
maintain diversity and functionality. National Parks in the United
States, though defined more on "monumentalism" than on ecological
worth, are nonetheless the United States' last best chance to save
representative intact landscapes composed of native species and
community diversity. The following article highlights one obstacle to
better biodiversity conservation in National Parks--that of
"inholdings"--parcels of land within park boundaries that are
privately owned. Many of these lands may develop commercially. There
is potential for inappropriate and polluting land uses within and
adjacent to U.S. National Parks. Any habitat conversion there could
fragment and diminish ecological systems. The National Park Trust
reports that for a relatively small amount of money, some $70 million,
the connectedness and quality of interior areas of National Parks
could be maintained and improved.
g.b.
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Title: Park Groups Asks Congress to buy `inholdings' for public good
National Parks vs. private land
Source: MSNBC, http://www.msnbc.com/news/ENVIRONMENT_Front.asp
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Status: Copyright 1999, contact source for permission to reprint
Date: August 25, 1999
Byline: Miguel Llanos
Mojave National preserve includes dunes among its 1.6 million acres.
The National Park Trust wants to see 86,000 acres of privately owned
land with the preserve bought for the public good.
AUG. 25 - A park preservation group on Wednesday claimed that some
200,000 acres of privately held land within the nation's park system
are in "imminent" danger of being developed or resold. The National
Park Trust listed 20 "high priority" sites covering 110,000 acres
and urged Congress to come up with the estimated $70 million it would
take to buy them for the public good.
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 system of national and state parks," Trust
President Paul Pritchard said in a statement released with the report
on the 83rd birthday of the National Park Service.
The Trust claimed that even though purchases of private lands have
increased in recent years, so too have the number of acres of private
land in public parks. In the last decade, it added, private property
within America's parks rose by 1.6 million acres - a 35 percent
increase.
Some six million acres within the 84 million acres of the national
park system are privately owned, and Pritchard claimed that "on any
given day 200,000 acres are under an immediate threat."
PLEA TO CONGRESS
"... private citizens should demand action at all levels of
government," Pritchard added, noting that Congress has been slow to
approve purchases even though it has more than $5 billion available
through a Land and Water Conservation Fund.
The 1965 fund allows some $900 million a year to go towards
acquisitions.
Still, Congress has been reluctant to come up with money for land
purchases. The report said that in 1998 only $23 million was provided
for national park land acquisition, a tenth of what the National Park
Service had sought.
This summer the House and Senate approved about half of the $295
million the Interior Department had sought for its "land legacy"
purchases, including funds earmarked to buy private land in and
adjacent to federal parks.
RESPONSE FROM CONGRESS
A staffer on the Republican-run House subcommittee for national parks
took exception to the report on several fronts, noting first that the
Clinton administration only in the last few years has asked for
acquisition funds.
As for the threat to parks, the source asked, "What's imminent? Who
knows what that means." In most cases, he wagered, "nothing's going
on" with the property.
The source also noted that inholdings are often property that was
there before a park was created or expanded and in those cases "it's
not fair to turn around and point the finger at private property."
PRIORITIES BIG AND SMALL
In its report, the Trust claimed the threat to parks from the
development of private land within park boundaries -- known as
"inholdings" -- is growing significantly because the value of these
lands in many cases has skyrocketed.
Logging, energy exploration, mining and subdivisions were cited as
examples of what's planned for many of the inholdings. The National
Park Service has also identified development of inholdings as a threat
to the system.
The Trust report cited 110,000 acres of privately owned property in
and adjacent to 20 parks, valued at more than $70 million, as being at
greatest risk of being developed or re-sold for commercial purposes.
The Trust's "top targets" list (see end of story) ranges from 9 acres
within the Cape Cod National Seashore in Massachusetts to 86,426 acres
in California's Mojave Desert.
NONPROFIT BUYBACKS
While pressuring Congress remains a major strategy, the Trust and
other groups are also raising money to buy back land themselves for
the public good.
Through donations, the Trust recently bought 10,000 acres of tallgrass
prairie in Kansas, and will own the land while the National Park
Service operates it as a park.
In another example, the nonprofit Wildlands Conservancy recently began
negotiations to buy 430,000 acres parceled out checkerboard-fashion in
and around Joshua Tree National Park and the Mojave National
Preserve, both in California.
But even here final approval will depend on $36 million coming from
the federal government. So far, the Senate has agreed to come up with
only $15 million and the House none at all.
National Park Trust's Top 20 Targets
The Trust identified these areas as their top 20 "high priorities" and
estimated their purchase prices. In all, they encompass 110,000 acres
and $70 million would be needed to buy them for the National Parks
System.
* Everglades National Park (Fla.): 17,321 acres, $20 million
* Gettysburg National Military Park (Penn.): 99 acres, $5.7 million
* Saguaro National Park (Ariz.): 250 acres, $2.8 million
* Mojave National Preserve (Calif.): 86,426 acres, $7.1 million
* Apostle Island National Lakeshore (Wisc.): 54 acres, $250,000
* Wrangell-St. Ellis National Park (Alaska): 1,000 acres, $1.7 million
* Weir Farm National Historic Site (Conn.): 13 acres, $2.5 million
* Cuyahoga Valley National Recreation Area (Ohio) 243 acres, $2.5
million
* Blue Ridge PArkway (N.C. and Virginia): 40 acres, $225,000
* Anteltam National Battlefield (Maryland): 315 acres, $2 million
* North Cascades Complex (Wash.): 225 acres, $1 million
* Golden Spike National Historic Site (Utah): 532 acres, $400,000
* Olympic National Park (Wash.): 204 acres, $2.5 million
* Stones River National Battlefield (Tenn.): 112 acres, $4.3 million
* Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historic Park (Maryland):: 722
acres, $800,000
* Cape Cod National Seashore (Mass.): 9 acres, $2.8 million
* Keweensaw National Historic Park (Mich.): 11 acres, $2.4 million
* Hawaii Volcanoes National Park (Hawaii): 1,950 acres, $3.5 million
* Fredericksburg and Spotylvania National Military Park (Virg.): 557
acres, $6.3 million
* Pecos National Historic Park (New Mexico): 375 acres, $1.8 million
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