Jet Skis in Crater Lake?

Kari Chisholm

Over at New Frames, Sid brings the blogosphere alert about our national parks right home to Oregon.

That's right! Get your Jet Ski ready to rip up some waves on Oregon's Crater Lake, the state's only national park. When you're done, stop by the gift shop in the park's lodge and buy yourself a crucifix and bible! Oh and forget about those boring educational forums given by the park's rangers that tell you about the geological and biological evolution of the area because evolution doesn't exist!

Sounds a bit hyperbolic, eh? Not so fast... Bush Administration political hack Paul Hoffman (the deputy assistant secretary for fish, wildlife and parks) has proposed allowing Jet Skis, snowmobiles, and off-road vehicles into every national park - unless there's proof that they might cause irreversible harm.

Says the New York Times, in an editorial:

Mr. Hoffman's rewrite would open up nearly every park in the nation to off-road vehicles, snowmobiles and Jet Skis. According to his revision, the use of such vehicles would become one of the parks' purposes. To accommodate such activities, he redefines impairment to mean an irreversible impact. To prove that an activity is impairing the parks, under Mr. Hoffman's rules, you would have to prove that it is doing so irreversibly - a very high standard of proof. This would have a genuinely erosive effect on the standards used to protect the national parks. ...

In short, this is not a policy for protecting the parks. It is a policy for destroying them. ... what Mr. Hoffman has given us is a road map of what could happen to the parks if Mr. Bush's political appointees are allowed to have their way.

Put another way, over at Multi Medium:

America has turned into the rich, oblivious widow whose husband always took care of the finances, and the Republicans are the sleazy lawyer robbing her blind because she's too far gone to notice or care. Perhaps we Democrats are like the concerned relatives she won't listen to because she thinks we're the ones trying to take her money. Oh, the irony.

Where can you learn more about this attack? Daily Kos, the L.A. Times, Chicken is not Pillage, the NY Times, New Wisdom...

And where can you take action? Over at The Coalition of National Park Service Retirees. They've also got all the raw, leaked documentation.

Last but not least, call Senators Wyden and Smith - and our members of Congress too. 1-877-SOB-U-SOB.

By Kari Chisholm Aug. 30, 2005