Mt. Rainier: Prospects for Future Access

The park has hired cosultants and has/is putting together plans, etc.  Much too detailed to portray here.

Couldn't resist posting the following from Thunderbear #250, which bills itself as 'The oldest alternative newsletter in the Federal Government':
www.workingnet.com/thunderbear/

"...In fact the situation reminds one of the story of the Little Dutch Boy that you remember from your childhood. In that story, a Little Dutch Boy is walking home from school beside one of the great dikes that protect Holland from the North Sea. Happily skipping along, the Little Dutch Boy spies a small rivulet of water, coming from a tiny leak in the dike. He is enough of a junior hydrologist to understand that the tiny leak will soon become a raging torrent that will destroy all of Holland. So, he does the only thing possible; he sticks his finger into the hole and yells for help. At first, no one came, but eventually villagers find the brave little boy and summon up an army of volunteers to shore up the dike and Holland is saved.

But what if instead of villagers, the Little Dutch Boy had been found by a Department of Interior Study Group?

The DOI Study Group assesses the situation (A. a little boy and finger, B. a dike, C. an ocean.)  They inform the Little Dutch Boy that they would study the problem in depth and issue a White Paper, analyzing the problem and listing possible solutions.  In the interim, the Little Dutch Boy is told to stand firm and maintain the status quo and they will get back to him.  The Little Dutch Boy protests that his finger is getting cold and that he has to pee, but the DOI Study Group is already on their way back to Washington.

Some time later (much later) the DOI Study Group returns with a 3 pound White Paper on Little Boys, Dikes and Oceans. (A member of the Study Groups courteously holds the White Paper and turns the pages as the Little Boy's finger is famously involved in the primary task.)  Although, there is considerable background information and padding, the White Paper has come up with five possible solutions to the problem of the Little Dutch Boy, the Dike, and the Ocean:

1. MORE LITTLE DUTCH BOYS.  The White Paper suggests that thousands of Little Dutch Boys be rotated past the problem hole, each sticking his finger in for a prescribed length of time, so that no one was unduly inconvenienced or endangered

2. BIGGER FINGERS.  A special cadre of Little Dutch Boys be trained to develop large fingers that could be stuck in holes of varying sizes and equipped with a bullhorn to summon additional help, if needed.

3. WATERPROOF DIKES.  Self-explanatory, but ruinously expensive and would obviate the need for other DOI study groups

4. DRAIN THE OCEAN.  See number three

5. ALL OF THE ABOVE.  For C.Y.A. purposes and to avoid hurt feelings, we are including this option.

(At this writing, the White Paper has been duly filed, the DOI Study Group has gone on to other things, and the Little Dutch Boy is still waiting with his finger in the dike.)"    :