Big South Fork and the National Parks Conservation Association

["guest@endurance.net" <guest@endurance.net>]

Linda B. Merims lbm@ici.net

As I have mentioned on occasion, I subscribe to the National
Parks Conservation Association's (NPCA) email "Alert" newsletter
by which they seek to mobilize their 300,000+ membership
base to take action on various political issues related to
the National Park system.

Well, I just got the following notice about Big South Fork in northeast
Tennessee:


  Subject: National Park Lines 2000-15
  Date:    Fri, 14 Apr 2000 16:20:03 -0400
  From:    owner-npca-pan@lists.npca.org
  To:      npca-pan@lists.npca.org

  National Park Lines 2000-15, Friday, April 14, 2000
  News for NPCA's Park Activist Network
  E-Mail:  TakeAction@npca.org  Web:  http://www.npca.org
  In this issue:
  1. Congratulations!  Arctic Bill Was Drilled!
  2. Comments Needed to Protect Big South Fork
  3. Yosemite Moves to Cut Cars, Restore Nature
  4. Sequoia National Monument Designation Threatened
  5. Park Speak

  CONGRATULATIONS!  ARCTIC BILL WAS DRILLED! <deleted>...

  COMMENTS NEEDED TO PROTECT BIG SOUTH FORK: For the first time since the 
  park's creation, the National Park Service (NPS) will develop a General 
  Management and Road and Trails Maintenance Plan that will determine the 
  protection of Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area for 
  years to come.  This park protects the spectacular Big South Fork River gorge 
  and uplands in eastern Tennessee and Kentucky.  Excessive and increasing use 
  of all-terrain, motorized vehicles (ATVs) threatens the park's natural and 
  cultural resources, water quality, and wilderness values.  Incomplete 
  information and poor management planning have resulted in inadequate 
  protection for sensitive areas of the park.  The solution lies in limiting 
  motorized use vehicles, such as ATVs, and protecting the entire park by 
  designating sensitive areas "primitive", thereby upholding uphold the parks' 
  integrity.  TAKE ACTION!  Comments to the NPS are needed before May 5, 
  2000. You can send your personalized comments to the Superintendent via 
  NPCA's web site: http://www.npca.org/takeaction/action_alerts.html.  To 
  stay informed as this issue develops, or for more information, please 
  contact mwilson@npca.org. 

  ...

  <remainder of NPCA bulleting deleted>

The interesting thing to note here is that Big South Fork is NOT
a "National Park"! It is a "National Recreation Area."  When the
legislation to create BSF was drafted in the mid 1980's, its
supporters very specifically created the park using language
that made recreational use (hunting, horseback riding, whitewater
rafting, mountain biking, etc.) its first priority and not
environmental conservation.  They wanted to avoid just exactly
this kind of action that has plagued the National Park system
where environmental conservation *is* the legally-mandated first
priority.  National Parks have been closed to ORVs and ATVS, to
mountain bikers, and increasingly to equestrian use based on
environmental concerns having priority over all other uses.

NPCA keeps trying to pretend that National Recreation Areas
should be treated like National Parks.  Now that Big South
Fork is drafting its first General Management and Road and
Trails Maintenance Plan, the move is to restrict use at
Big South Fork.  NPCA is specifically targeting ATVs,
but this is the usual "first move" in a progression of
efforts to limit access by different user groups.  (Horses
are usually next on the list.)

I suspect that this will be discussed extensively during the
Southeastern Equestrian Trails Conference coming up at
Clemson University (South Carolina) next May 7-10.  I plan
to attend that conference to find out what organized effort
exists to protect the interests of horseback riders at Big
South Fork.  (Although I live in Massachusetts, the remainder
of my family has taken up residence in Tennessee, and I visit
there frequently and may very well relocate there eventually.)

"We must all hang together, or we will all hang separately."

Linda B. Merims
lbm@ici.net
Massachusetts, USA