ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, January 2, 1997 TAG: 9701020065
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-4 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: LOS ANGELES
SOURCE: The New York Times
THE POST-WAR VISION of the national parks as an extension of the uniquely American automobile culture of freedom and convenience is disappearing.
The Interior Department's step this week toward eliminating intrusions of man into the Grand Canyon is a harbinger of an overall plan to restrict even automobile traffic in some of America's heavily traveled parks.
Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt announced restrictions on flights by small airplanes and helicopters that carry tourists over the Grand Canyon. Those rules are just part of a long-contemplated strategy that, if planners have their way, would eventually eliminate nearly all cars from the Grand Canyon, and, one day, from other popular national parks.
The plan amounts to a dramatic rethinking of how parks like the Grand Canyon and Yosemite in northern California will be managed.
``In some ways, this says, `No more, we are not going to remain slaves to the automobile as we have been,''' Rob Arnberger, the Grand Canyon National Park's superintendent, said in a recent interview. ``We have to create a new future that is not completely dependent on so many cars and buses in the canyon.''
The Grand Canyon plan was adopted after a series of public hearings and comment. In implementing it, Arnberger and other Park Service officials will be struggling to honor two contradictory mandates: preserve the parks in their natural glory, yet keep them accessible to the traveling public. They may face resistance from those who see the restrictions on planes and automobiles as a concession to environmentalists and a violation of their right to drive their cars right up to the geysers and the wildlife.
Under the plan, which would begin this year and is expected to be completed over the next 15 years, buses, shuttles, and perhaps light rail service would replace free access for autos and the paving of prime locations for parking lots. That has raised another critical issue - opening this construction to private financing and more commercial development, rather than relying on an increasingly stingy federal government.
Sen. John McCain, a Republican from Arizona who has been fighting for years to limit the flights over the Grand Canyon, said he planned to introduce legislation extending the plan to other national parks. ``You're either going to have to suffer the inconvenience of parking outside the park and taking mass transit, or you're going to have to have a reservation,'' he said. ``That's ultimately where we are heading.''
LENGTH: Medium: 52 linesby CNB