Federation questions park management policies

Proposed changes to the National Park Service (NPS) management policies that would allow for fewer conservation measures and more recreational usage of parks throughout the country have raised the alarm of the Las Virgenes Homeowner’s Federation and other environmental groups.

The proposed changes would impact the way the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area operates.

At last week’s Las Virgenes homeowners board meeting, members announced their opposition to the policy changes proposed in last August by Paul Hoffman, deputy assistant secretary of the interior. Although Hoffman’s draft was halted, a newer draft is equally troubling to the environmental groups.

The proposed changes make recreational usage of parks a priority over resource preservation, local officials said. The National Parks Conservation Association has launched a “stop the rewrite” campaign and the federation announced its support for maintaining the 2001 policies.

Among the most troubling changes in the new draft is the removal of a section that says when a “conflict” arises between conservation and enjoyment of resources, conservation should prevail.

Federation officials believe the new language weakens the conservation policies and opens the door to misuse of local parkland.

John Low, federation president, said the new language removes “hard and fast” guidelines and replaces it with discretionary language that allows more “wiggle room” for individual park managers.

“(The new language) gives park managers more flexibility to modify goals to accommodate uses that we might not expect,” Low said. “Who’s waiting in the wings to take advantage of this?”

Low said local interests might prevail that would hurt the national parks. The proposed management changes have the potential to allow commercialization to disrupt a national legacy, Low said.

Because the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area is surrounded by urban sprawl, it would be difficult to balance the conservation of resources while also allowing additional recreational programs, the federation said.

“We could get into a spiral with that,” Low said. “We’ve got this goose out there, and don’t want to kill it . . . We want to keep our resources healthy.”

In a letter to the National Park Service in Washington, Elizabeth Cheadle, chairperson of the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, wrote that the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area is “significant” because it protects a great expanse of Mediterranean ecosystems.

Cheadle said such ecosystems exist in only five locations worldwide and that the proposed Park Service changes could lead to a “near complete reversal” of NPS policy.

Low said the policy changes would affect the Santa Monica Mountains Recreation Area more than any other park in the nation.

“We have the largest backlog of property to acquire in the national park service,” he said. “Changing the order in which land is protected for parks would have a significant impact on the ability to add new parkland to the Santa Monica Mountains.”

The federation said it will continue to weigh in on the controversy and mail letters to appropriate state and federal agencies.

Public comment on the issue will be accepted until Feb. 17.

Write to Fran Mainella, director of NPS, 1849 C St. NW, Main Interior Building, Washington D.C. 20240, or to Bernand Fagan, NPS Office of Policy, room 7252, 1849 C St. NW, Main Interior Building, Washington D.C. 20240.

Also visit the website http:// www.npca.org/stoptherewrite.