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The article appended below begins with the words: "NPCA gives Dubya a C minus grade for his National Parks Budget."
I think they are being EXTREMELY GENEROUS. But heck, NPCA has always given Dubya the benefit of the doubt because he was, after all, their preferred choice for President and because NPCA's President serve(s)(d?) on Bush's transition team.
Interestingly, in yesterday's Wall Street Journal, NPCA was unusually critical of their man. They even showed what some might mistake to be backbone. The article was titled: "Arsenic and Wild Space: Green Activists From Across Spectrum Unite Against Bush" and was illustrated with a bedraggled EarthFirst!er and a nattily-coifed beltway environmentalist both holding an anti-Bush sign. The message was one of UNITY. It was promoting a lie.
That particular image and message worries me, especially upon seeing it in the Wall Street Journal. It suggests that beltway environmentalists, who having until recently kowtowed to George Bush, will once again attempt to speak as though they represent the environmental movement. THEY DO NOT!
The spin put on this story by the Wall Street Journal is, I suggest, self-serving nonsense. NPCA, Environmental Defense and National Wildlife Federation (the other Big-Green Groups featured in that article) are still stuck way out there in Deep Right Field.
More to the point, George Bush's National Parks Initiative is FAR worse than NPCA's comments suggest and deserves to be vigorously opposed. It is, Bush's effort to pretend that he is doing something to protect America's Crown Jewels. And that, I suggest, is also nothing more than self-serving nonsense. Bush's National Parks Initiative deserves an F.
Scott
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NPCA: Bush's National Parks Budget Receives C-
WASHINGTON, April 11 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The following are remarks as
prepared for delivery by Phil Voorhees, senior director of park funding
and management, National Parks Conservation Association, at a press
conference about President Bush's budget: Willard Hotel, Washington,
D.C., April 10, 1:30 p.m.:
Last September, candidate George W. Bush criticized the last
administration for its failure to respond to the increasing pressures
of park visitation and made a commitment to "preserve the natural
beauty that draws us (to the national parks)."
However, this budget proposal makes little progress for the parks, and
what progress is made focuses on roads and roofs instead of wildlife
and antiquities. The budget distributed Monday, April 9, looks like a
C- effort at best. Based on the pledges made last fall and again this
winter, we were hoping for far better.
This budget does not show leadership on park protection. This budget
does not make a bold statement about park protection. It is hard to see
how the president is working to restore the parks and fund park
protection in the short term.
Every day, more money is needed to operate the parks. In total, the
parks need $600 million more per year to protect resources. The real
gains made here focus on bricks and mortar, roads and roofs-not on
wildlife and resources.
Nonetheless, there are some small bright spots. The budget does reflect
a continued commitment to fund the Natural Resource Challenge that will
give the parks needed assistance in understanding some resource
problems.
However, with such a strong statement on parks last year, we had hoped
for a strong commitment in this budget. What we see is as much a reason
for skepticism as hope that President Bush is sincere in his words.
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NPCA - Protecting Parks for Future Generations: Founded in 1919, the
National Parks Conservation Association is America's only private,
nonprofit advocacy organization dedicated solely to protecting,
preserving, and enhancing the National Park System. Today, NPCA has
more than 450,000 members. A library of national park information,
including fact sheets, congressional testimony, position statements,
and press releases, can be found on NPCA's web site at
http://www.eparks.org/media_center.
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- Activism 
