Changes at Mt Rainier -- road closed Tues, Weds

I used to really admire the NPS and the staff at MORA and I've become increasingly disillusioned over the last few years. My experience is that they do not want public involvement in the management process, and that any contact, including the public input meetings, is done out of requirement and at minimum standards. The decision to hold both of the meetings on the 30% winter closure in locations far, far from Puget Sound population centers (one was in Enumclaw of all the remote places) during work hours on weekdays is just one example of them checking the box, but utterly failing in the spirit of the rule.

And I also don't believe it will change until we, collectively, get organized and force change.

Timothy Egan suggests Sally Jewell , if confirmed, might be a Secretary of Interior that would be a change agent; an organized, thoughtful group letter/white paper/petition might influence her (and our Congressional representatives as well).

Timothy Egan suggests Sally Jewell , if confirmed, might be a Secretary of Interior that would be a change agent; an organized, thoughtful group letter/white paper/petition might influence her (and our Congressional representatives as well).

Emphasis added Like that's going to happen -- the current senate seems intent on filbustering pretty much all appointments -- I think they confirmed Kerry as SOS only because they hate Billary so much.

Is it just me, or did the MORA twitter feed go dead today?

Is it just me, or did the MORA twitter feed go dead today?

I had to re-log on on my computer.

Thought some might be interested in views of the Sally Jewell nomination from outside the Washingtons.  Her resume is impressive, but I wonder if she is ready for the Sodom & Gomorrah that is the Interior Department, and increasingly, the national part of the National Park Service?

"Interior is bloody political turf because the stakes are high and the money is big..."

"...our public lands are increasingly understood to provide a priceless setting for business owners and other investors. Economists are getting better at putting dollar signs on that, but it still represents a shifting mindset. The glimmering chrome-and-wood temple of REI in downtown Seattle is testimony to the fact that recreation and quality-of-life dollars add up to real money."

www.hcn.org/blogs/range/sally-jewells-adventure-of-a-lifetime

"...Does any of this make her qualified to be secretary of the Interior? Not especially. Unlike most secretaries of this or that, she has no government experience whatsoever. For a Cabinet post, that’s not a disqualifier, but it’s not helpful either."

www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/...0214,0,5684972.story

It's interesting how different National Park managers respond to the challenge of winter.  I think Rainier and Olympic may be the only parks that exclude the public from plowed roads.  At Denali, they're holding public meetings on expanding the number of miles they plow!

Other national parks where snow removal is an annual job have announced their response to budget cuts will be to delay opening popular attractions such as Going-To-The-Sun Road in Glacier and Tioga Pass & Glacier Point roads in Yosemite.  This traditional tactic of NPS management is called the 'Washington Monument Strategy' and has usually been successful at pressuring Congress to restore their funding.  That management strategy seems more like extortion to me:  'Hey, nice park youse got's dere; it'd be a real shame if somethin' happened to it, eh?'

Yellowstone management has caved to political pressure from Dick Cheney and other politicians and will continue to do expensive ($1250 per visitor) avy control with 105mm howitzers each winter so that a few hundred snowmobilers can ride over Sylvan Pass from the east entrance:

www.nationalparkstraveler.com/2013/02/ye...ver-snow-access22855