Re: NPCA Home Page

["Linda B. Merims" <lbm@ici.net>]

Susie Wimberly wrote:

> Regarding Connie Berto's post on the NPCA article, anyone wishing to
> find out more about the organization, their website is:
> 
> http://www.npca.org/
> 
> (no, i'm not involved in npca, just curious).

Thanks!  That's just exactly what I needed.  Buried in their webpage
it says:

 "...An association of "Citizens Protecting America's Parks," NPCA was
  founded in 1919 and today has 500,000 members."

500,000?  Yikes!

Actually, what I can see of their organization and programs from this
web page, particularly their Park Watcher, Park Alert, and Park Activist
programs, makes them look like a good model to follow for a national horse
trails protection effort!

Evidently one of the things that NPCA has been very active in throughout
its 70 year history is fighting efforts to use the National Parks for
excessive commercial purposes by concessionaires.  For example, things
like giving a private corporation a concession to develop a ski resort
in the Grand Tetons, granting mining concessions in the Alaskan parks,
or fighting companies that give fly-over tours of the Grand Canyon.  My
guess (and it is a pure guess) is that their opposition to the private
stables within the park boundaries stems from this kind of historical
tradition in their organization.

Connie, how long have the stables been "in" the parks?  Do they pre-date
the formation of these parks and have some kind of grandfather status?
I'm still curious who this Brian Huse is and what caused him to come
to view the stables as bad guys.

Incidentally, the article to which Connie Berto refers is also online:

 http://www.npca.org/np/99-01/pacific.html

In fact, NPCA's whole _National Parks_ magazine is online.

Personally, I think a little infiltration is in order...

Linda B. Merims
lbm@ici.net
Massachusetts, USA