Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

When the National Park Service went after the horse camp
concession holder at Acadia National Park in the early late
90's, they had some legitimate grounds which they clearly stated.

However, that wasn't *really* why they were attempting
to close the horse camp (by making unreasonable,
unprofitable demands on the operator)--the real reason
was much more practical:

 They wanted the horsecamp land for a new parking
 lot for a massively overcrowded Visitor's Center.

A similar thing was brewing the last time I checked in
(a little over a year ago) with the effort to create a new land
management plan for Great Smokey Mountain National
Park's hugely popular Cade's Cove area.  They were
trying to close the concession (not a horse camp, basically
a "pony ride" for non-horse tourists, but whose small parking
lot could hold a few day-riders' rigs) because of "animal
cruelty."  And they were trying to argue underuse of the
real horse camp, which is right at the entrance to Cade's
Cove, because they wanted to ban automobile traffic in
the Cove, and use the horse camp as part of a  huge new
parking lot and visitor's center.

Sometimes eco-friendly justifications (which carry weight in
both law and regulation) are given for entirely eco-hostile
reasons.

Just a thought.

Linda Marins



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