<< Back 10/9/02 The Naturalist's Corner By Don Hendershot A mass of hot air from Washington has settled over the Great Smoky Mountains National Park creating another episode of election-year haze. During the 2000 election campaign, Congressman Charles Taylor (R-Brevard) along with North Carolina Sen. Jesse Helms managed to find $16 million in the U.S. Department of Transportation 2001 Appropriations Bill for construction of the North Shore Road through the GSMNP from Bryson City to Fontana Dam. As the November 2002 general election draws near, Taylor has introduced H.R. 5468, the “Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians Land Exchange Act of 2002.” The congressman has publicly supported, for more than a year, the efforts of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians to secure a land exchange with the GSMNP that would give the tribe approximately 160 acres of bottom land, the Ravensford tract, on which to build schools. In exchange, the tribe is prepared to secure about 215 acres adjacent to the Blue Ridge Parkway for the National Park Service. But this bill to “effect the land exchange” goes beyond an elected official openly supporting a number of constituents. It should be pointed out that not all of Taylor’s constituents support a land exchange, and the National Park Service has protocol in place which includes opportunities for public input to deal with land exchange issues. It should also be pointed out that this process is already in progress with regards to the proposed land exchange between the park and the tribe. In fact, the parties have been working on the land swap for nearly two years. There have been a series of public meetings and an Environmental Impact Statement and more public input is scheduled for early 2003. Taylor’s bill, if passed, would negate all the hard work performed to date by the tribe and the park service, totally disregard any cultural, historical, biological and environmental information documented by numerous studies, and completely circumvent the public participation aspect of the process. It should also be pointed out that H.R. 5468 is simply a bill that has been introduced late in the congressional session and has only three co-sponsors. The fate of this bill, whatever it might be, will surely not be known until after the November election. A case in point: Taylor’s 2000 election-year Great Smoky Mountains Clean Air Act, which is presently being digested somewhere in the bowels of Congress. If this is a campaign gambit for votes, it should go in the politics-as-usual file and be disregarded. If this is a sincere effort to circumvent the public’s vested right to be a part of the decision-making process regarding public property, it should be vigorously opposed. Proponents of a Ravensford land exchange should be as steadfast in their denouncement of this political ploy as opponents. National parks are national jewels, rightfully owned by all American citizens. Decisions to alter boundaries, exchange properties or change management goals are decisions to be made in the public forum with public input. You wouldn’t let realtors decide if a parcel of your property should be exchanged with your neighbor. You shouldn’t let Congress decide if your park should be altered. Politics also appear to be linked to the recent transfer of current GSMNP Superintendent Mike Tollefson. It was announced last week that Tollefson would be transferred to Yosemite and that Yosemite superintendent Dave Mihalic would be transferred to the Smokies. The story broke before any park service announcement after it was leaked from U.S. Rep. George Radanovich’s (R-Calif.) office. Radanovich, chairman of the subcommittee on National Parks and Public Lands, serves the district where Yosemite is located. He has testified before Congress, lambasting the Yosemite Valley Plan and the Merced River Plan (plans developed to restore Yosemite after major flooding along the Merced River in 1997) created under Mihalic’s supervision. Mihalic stirred the political embers by choosing to retire rather than come to the Smokies. He told a Washington Post reporter that Randy Jones, deputy National Park director, had told him in August that he would be reassigned to the GSMNP because, “there are some things we want you to do that haven’t gotten done.” Those things, according to Mihalic, were the completion of the North Shore Road, abandoned by the park service in the early 60s due to environmental concerns, and to proceed with the Ravensford land exchange. Mihalic said both were supported by the Bush Administration. “My career has been dedicated to protecting the nation’s special places and the national park idea. After being briefed on the key issues I am to tackle at the Smokies and the conflicting priorities which I would face, I have decided the best course of action at this time would be to retire,” Mihalic told the San Francisco Chronicle. He was assistant superintendent of the GSMNP in the mid-80s. Elizabeth Dole, Republican candidate for Jesse Helms’ soon to be vacated Senate seat, apparently stands squarely on both sides of the North Shore Road issue. Before the September primary Dole told the Asheville Citizen-Times that because environmental and funding realities regarding the construction of a North Shore Road had changed, “I support proposals to have the federal government make compensation payments to Swain County.” However, after the primary and Swain County residents reminded her that in January she had pledged her support for construction of a road, Dole’s office said, “Mrs. Dole believes that the citizens of Swain County should have the final say on exactly how the federal government keeps its promise, because it was clear to her in January that the people of Swain County want the North Shore Road built, and that’s what was meant by payments to Swain County.” Many problems like pollution and overcrowding face the Smokies and most other national parks across the country. These issues deserved to be solved by resource managers using the best available science. Co-opting these problems and making them political footballs for political gain is a disservice to the American public and to the mission of the National Park Service to “... conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wild life therein and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by which means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations.” (Don Hendershot can be reached at don@smokymountainnews.com)