GOP Platform Proposes To Get Rid Of National Parks And National Forests

The Republican platform committee met this week to draft the document that defines the party’s official principles and policies. Along with provisions on pornography and LGBT “conversion therapy” is an amendment calling for the indiscriminate and immediate disposal of national public lands.

The inclusion of this provision in the Republican Party’s platform reflects the growing influence of and ideological alliance between several anti-park members of the GOP and anti-government extremists, led by Cliven Bundy, who dispute the federal government’s authority over national public lands.

Tea Party Wave Washes Up ‘Anti-Parks Caucus’ In Congress

A group of 20 senators and representatives has formed a de facto “anti-parks caucus” in Congress and is waging the most significant legislative and ideological challenge to America’s national parks in decades, says a new report released Monday by the Center for American Progress. The analysis finds that this anti-parks caucus is composed of less than five percent of Congress but is responsible for introducing dozens of bills to block the creation of new national parks, end America’s most effective parks program, and sell off public lands.

Koch-Backed Group Calls For No More National Parks

Just in time for the Fourth of July — when millions of people across the country will visit America’s national parks and other public lands — the Koch brothers are rolling out their latest campaign against these treasured places: pushing for no more national parks.

In an op-ed published in Tuesday’s New York Times, Reed Watson, the executive director at the Koch-backed Property and Environment Research Center (PERC), along with a research associate at the Center, call for no more national parks, citing the backlog in maintenance for existing parks.

Parks and Wreck: The Feds Need $11.5 Billion to Fix Our Public Lands

In 2014, the 300 million visitors to US national parks may have noticed the potholes in the roads, the magnificent vistas obscured by dense brush, dirty visitors' centers in need of basic repairs, trails that were not maintained, and overgrown campgrounds. Why? Blame Congress, which has routinely purchased new federal lands over the last 20 years while neglecting to fund the maintenance of existing national parks. National parks and historic sites need almost $12 billion in upkeep—or about four times the National Parks Service's annual budget. Meanwhile, congressional Republicans proposed a budget that would slash spending by $5.5 trillion in 10 years.

National Parks Winter Activities Possible Thanks To Volunteers

OTTAWA - When Stephen Harper drove a snowmobile last week near Quebec City to highlight millions in equipment grants given to private clubs, a different scene was unfolding in national parks across Canada.

Winter-loving volunteers were clearing ski trails in national parks on their own time, stepping into the vacuum left by federal government budget cuts across the system.

National Conservation Plan Ignores National Parks, Wilderness

Some scientists and environmental groups are coming down hard on the federal government’s first ever National Conservation Plan, claiming that it will neglect most of Canada, given its focus on agricultural and built-up areas near urban centres.

The new plan, released earlier this month by Prime Minister Stephen Harper, promises to conserve Canada’s lands and waters, restore Canada’s ecosystems and connect Canadians to nature.

It is now legal to drill oil and build pipelines in B.C.'s provincial parks

A little-known bill, the Park Amendment Act, that will drastically alter the management of B.C. parks became law Monday, creating controversy among the province's most prominent environmental and conservation organizations. The passage of Bill 4 will make way for industrial incursions into provincial parklands including energy extraction, construction of pipelines and industry-led research.

The bill, quietly introduced in mid-February, has already met significant resistance in B.C. where the Minister of Environment received "thousands of letters" of opposition, according to Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society's Peter Wood. "There has been absolutely zero public consultation, and the pace at which this was pushed through suggests this was never a consideration," he said in a press release.

Stop development on edges of Canada’s national parks

If you’re heading to one of Canada’s more than 40 stunning national parks this summer, you might want to leave your bathing suit behind and bring a gas mask instead.

A new report from the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society warns that “inappropriate” development projects are encroaching on Canada’s parks, threatening the water, air quality, wilderness and wildlife, not to mention a booming tourist economy.

Questions remain about Sable Island, our newest national park

Sable Island has become not just Canada’s 43rd national park but the first national park in the middle of a petroleum field.

The bill to designate Sable a national park reserve came into law last month after nearly being derailed in the House of Commons.

Environmental groups say the bill is not perfect because it allows for potential future offshore development in and around the island. Despite this, they agree giving Sable national park protection is a big step forward.

Many questions remain. Will there be oil exploration? Will people be able to visit? What exactly comes next?

How Ottawa stole show from Parks Canada

 OTTAWA — You might say Parks Canada got mauled by Bigfoot.

Internal documents show the prime minister’s department micro-managed a media event staged by Parks Canada, trying to erase the venerable agency from a public announcement while promoting the Harper government.

The incident is a case study in communications control from the centre, a signal feature of the governing Conservatives since they first came to power in 2006.

Parks Canada News Conference Micro-Managed By Harper's Communications Unit

OTTAWA - You might say Parks Canada got mauled by Bigfoot.

Internal documents show the prime minister's department micro-managed a media event staged by Parks Canada, trying to erase the venerable agency from a public announcement while promoting the Harper government.

The incident is a case study in communications control from the centre, a signal feature of the governing Conservatives since they first came to power in 2006.

New details emerge of potential sequester cuts to national parks

The automatic budget cuts set to take effect on March 1 will delay the opening of the East and West Rim drives at the Grand Canyon and reduce hours of operation at the main visitor center. At Gettysburg, 20 percent of student education programs would be eliminated this spring.

The Blue Ridge Parkway would lose 21 seasonal interpretive ranger programs, resulting in the closure of half of the park’s visitor stations and leaving 80 miles between each one.

Services frozen at national parks

OTTAWA -- Several of Canada's national parks, long celebrated by the federal government as an "integral part of the Canadian identity," have shut down winter services because of budget cuts.

The move, which followed a $29.2-million funding reduction, has forced some rural communities to do their own snow-clearing with Parks Canada machines in order to continue participating in activities and attracting tourists.

Parks Canada moves ahead with plan to privatize hot springs Read more: http://www.edmontonjournal.com/business/Parks+Canada+moves+ahead+with+plan+privatize+springs/7803834/story.html#ixzz2Hi8lpVls

EDMONTON - The plan to give three popular Parks Canada hot springs a spa-style makeover by transferring their operation to private companies is plowing ahead despite concerns from critics who say the plan will cost parks staff their jobs and increase costs for visitors.

Miette Hot Springs in Jasper National Park, Banff Upper Hot Springs in Banff National Park, and Radium Hot Springs in Kootenay National Park are slated to be run by private operators in the hopes of boosting attendance.

Harper leaves room for mining near North's new national park

Canadians have a new national park to hike, paddle and play in, Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced today, but some are saying his government favoured mining interests over the environment when drawing its boundaries.

Harper announced the official establishment of the Naats'ihch'oh National Park Reserve while in Norman Wells in the Northwest Territories as part of his tour of the North.

Budget cuts, overdevelopment, threaten Canada’s cherished parks system

It’s the season when Canadians break out the canoes, hiking boots and backpacks and head off into the trackless northern wilderness to commune with our plaid-jacket inner selves. There’s something in the nation’s psyche that leaps to the churn of paddle on water, or the eerie call of the loon on a remote lake.

Well, that’s the theory, anyway. In practice many of us trek no further than our local national or provincial parks, with their well-marked trails, carefully tended campsites and sandy, child-friendly beaches. But even that is something to cherish, and conserve. From Algonquin Park to the Gatineau, Mont Tremblant, Banff and Jasper, the Nahanni and Gros Morne, our parks are renowned the world over for their rugged beauty and wildlife.

Budget cuts imperil Canada’s national parks

Canada’s parks – from the windswept peaks of Nahanni in the Northwest Territories to the gentle rivers of Kejimkujik in Nova Scotia – are under threat as cash-strapped governments cut funding and promote development in the ecologically sensitive areas that lie in and around them, according to a new report from a leading wilderness advocacy group.

There was a time when the Conservative government of Stephen Harper countered the criticisms of environmental activists by boasting about the money it was devoting to expand the country’s century-old system of national parks. When that happened, the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society was quick to praise the efforts, lauding the rate at which parkland was being set aside and unique natural environments were being protected.

Riel House historic site closes its doors due to Parks Canada cuts

WINNIPEG - Historic Riel House, where Louis Riel lay in state after he was hanged, is closing its doors.

The national historic site, located in south Winnipeg, will cease all interpretive services and likely warehouse its historic artifacts after this summer.

As part of federal budget cuts, the Winnipeg Free Press reports Parks Canada has decided to terminate its contract with the St. Boniface Historical Society. The society hires and trains the four or five costumed interpreters who keep the 131-year-old house open between May and August for school tours, summer tourists and events.

Parks Canada carnage sideswipes Jasper with nary a peep from local Tory MP

Where's Rob Merrifield, the Conservative MP for Yellowhead, the huge western Alberta riding that includes the town of Jasper?

I ask only because the massive job cuts at Parks Canada by the radical neo-Cons in Prime Minister Stephen Harper's misnamed Conservative government are really kicking the snot out of Jasper and have long-term implications for the wellbeing of the park.

So you'd think that the local Member of Parliament would have something to say about this. But, as far as I can see, Merrifield is nowhere to be seen or heard.

This is actually pretty typical of Alberta's vast army of Conservative MPs. They're all for "keeping taxes low," getting rid of the gun registry, fighting crime (usually in ways that actually assist crime, but never mind) and signing a free-trade agreement with Europe.

But when the going gets tough and the brainiacs in the Prime Minister's Office come up with a scheme like this one that really hurts their own constituents, these tough Tory MPs get gone … shopping maybe. Anyhoo, they're usually absent without leave from any local discussion of the topic.

So it's hardly surprising that there's nothing on Merrifield's website about the effects of the Parks Canada cutbacks on Jasper National Park or the Jasper townsite -- although all of the topics noted above were featured prominently there yesterday in a stream of news-free news bites.

Parks Canada Walks Away From National Park Plan

Parks Canada has abandoned its feasibility assessment, and is stepping away from plans to create a national park in the South Okanagan-Similkameen.

On its website, Parks Canada says it "respects the position of the Government of British Columbia regarding the creation of a national park reserve in the South Okanagan-Lower Similkameen Valley and recognizes that it cannot proceed without the support of the Government of British Columbia."

For Parks Canada to create a national park, it needs the support of federal, provincial and First Nations governments.

The controversial project was first pitched in 2003 and has been hotly debated ever since but in December, B.C. Minister of Environment Terry Lake announced the province would not support the proposed park.

"While the feasibility study determined a national park reserve was feasible, it also recognized there was a large contingent of people opposed to the initiative," said Lake in a letter to park proponents.

"The Province is not convinced there is enough local support to move forward with this proposal at this time."