Pubdate: Mon, 05 Dec 2005 Source: Contra Costa Times (CA) Copyright: 2005 Knight Ridder Contact: http://www.contracostatimes.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/96 Author: Denis Cuff Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?115 (Cannabis - California) PARKS PAYING A PRICE People love their national parks, but paying to prevent their deterioration is becoming a struggle over the price of preserving America's heritage. From California's majestic Yosemite Valley to Pennsylvania's historic Gettysburg battlefield, years of tight budgets have left parks struggling to fix trails, roads and campgrounds, with fewer rangers to keep the peace and lead nature hikes. The shortage of park rangers helped opened the way for Mexican drug cartels to establish guarded marijuana farms in remote areas of Kings Canyon and Sequoia national parks, and to a lesser degree, Yosemite National Park. The marijuana farms appear limited to those vast California parks, officials say. Conservationists and a growing number of federal lawmakers say that it is time to rescue the national parks with more stable funding. "There is a problem. The parks are in a tight squeeze," said Rep. Mark Souder, an Indiana Republican sponsoring a bill that would let taxpayers donate to the park system through a check-off box on income tax forms. Souder was in San Francisco last week to lead the sixth in a series of hearings on national park conditions and funding. National Park Service officials in Washington, D.C., asserted that the park system is making progress toward President Bush's campaign pledge to clean up a $5 billion maintenance backlog. "We're getting in good shape," said Elaine Sevy, a park service spokeswoman. "Is everything perfect? No. But we have 388 sites and a massive infrastructure. We're trying to take a more strategic approach. But it will take time." Some environmentalists and current and retired park service employees indicated that things are getting worse, not better. The park service budget increased 24 percent from $2.1 billion in 2000 to $2.6 billion this year, but that is not enough to keep up with inflation, conservationists contend. Unexpected security demands after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks added new costs for park service police to guard national monuments and park rangers to guard dams, bridges and other potential targets, park watchdogs say. "The staffing is not good. The parks are deteriorating," said Bill Wade, spokesman for the 450-member Coalition of Concerned National Park Service Employees. California's 24 national parks and historic sites are also affected. Yosemite has fewer rangers and fewer ranger-led walks and campfire activities than a few years ago, said Michael Tollefson, the park's superintendent. Bathrooms are not cleaned as often, and road repairs and trail maintenance are not done as soon, he said. Visitors are unlikely to notice the difference so far, but that could change in time if the situation persists, he said. When the park service created the Port Chicago Naval Magazine Memorial Site north of Concord in 1994, park managers in the East Bay got no extra money or staff members to run it. So they diverted employees and money from the John Muir and Eugene O'Neill national historic sites for guided tours of the new place, said Glen Fuller, former superintendent of the three park service sites in Contra Costa County. Fuller said his staff to run the three facilities declined over a decade, and he could not afford to replace his maintenance chief. As a result, a project to accurately restore John Muir's rose and plant garden and orchard has struggled, he said. "We have a very dedicated staff and volunteers, but it's not enough," said Fuller, who retired a year ago. In the hearing in San Francisco last week, conservationists testified that the parks are suffering from years of neglect. "Flat budgets for California parks have led to crumbling infrastructures," said Gene Sykes, board chairman of the National Parks Conservation Association. Mexican drug cartels have created marijuana farms in remote areas of Sequoia and Kings Canyon parks, and at the edge of Yosemite, he said. The farms tear up and poison the environment, and the armed guards are a threat to back-country hikers, he said. While no park user has been attacked in a marijuana farm in the three national parks, a state warden was wounded in early August in a raid on a farm in the Sierra Azul open space preserve in the Santa Cruz Mountains. A farm worker was killed during the shootout. California is more attractive to drug cartels because post-Sept. 11 border security has made it harder to smuggle illegal drugs into the country, said Laura Whitehouse of the parks conservation association. The park service has taken steps to beef up patrols, but it is not enough, she said. Authorities removed 44,000 marijuana plants from Sequoia and Kings Canyon parks in 2004, and 1,351 plants this year, she said. Whitehouse attributed the drop this year to cagey growers switching to smaller, harder-to spot farms. To help the park system, the conservation association calls for Congress to ramp up park spending. But that may be difficult to achieve as the federal government struggles with higher costs for pension and health care programs and the war in Iraq, Souder, the Indiana lawmaker said. He predicted that many Americans would contribute to parks if his plan wins approval for the check-off box on income tax forms. Souder said he also thinks the park service should look at more joint park operations with state agencies, such as the Redwood state and national parks in Northern California. He also wants the park service to be more creative about attracting charitable contributions. Movie stars could be effective fund-raisers, he suggested. Some park fans said they worry donors will close their wallets if their gifts would go toward basic park operations. "Contributions should provide a margin of excellence," Sykes said, "not of survival." - --- MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman