{"The American Recreation Coalition} ARC could produce a dynamite free National Park Service guide if we could sell advertising. But the federal government does not endorse specific products. Even photos of any federal employee in an agency uniform with an identifiable product brand concern federal ethics officers."]

So wrote the American Recreation Coalition's President, Derrick Crandall, in 1991 in an extraordinarily enlightening article titled "Brokering Partnerships."

Today, if you visit Death Valley National Park and ask the volunteer behind the information desk for a Backcountry Roads travel map, and if they've not run out, you'll get the map depicted here. This map can also be downloaded from the National Park Service's website.

   

Notice the NPS shield on the front page and the Jeep in the photo. Notice the Jeep name at the bottom?

Fifteen years ago, corporate interests were still only trying to gain control of outdoor recreation on America's public lands. Today THEY write the rules.

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