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Show Sen. Moss Seeks Policy Revision In Country's Vast Parks System imperative if still available trove of natural , beauty are to be preserved pre-served for posterity and for ourselves. our-selves. "Last year's 80 million visits to the national parks was but a prelude of the pressure ahead. Our changing world means leisure lei-sure and better living standards. These, in turn, mean more tourists tour-ists and millions of added visits to the parks. Few will deny the place of tourism and recreation in our economic scheme. For this reason alone it is essential that we add more parks. He said the Kennedy administration adminis-tration has urged the addition of more than a million acres to the national park system following follow-ing a small trickle of 73,000 acres added under President Truman, and 19,000 acres added under President Eisenhower. The Utah Democrat discussed the rapidly rising demands of many groups for more and more area for their favorite uses of the National Forests and public domain lands, and said: "Whenever there is talk of an added park mankind's narrowest interests seem to come into play. Always, it seems parks stand in the way of commercial progress, no matter how remote the area may be or how unproved its resources. re-sources. Having sponsored the Canyonlands Park Bill, I speak from first hand experience. If we permit intelligent secondary use of resources within our park areas, recognizing the priorities established by the National Park Act, we will have rmeoved much of the opposition to an added store of park lands. "The concept of our national park lands and their use has changed since the relatively un-crowded un-crowded days when the Park Act was passed. If we had stuck with the intial concept, we could not have had Cape Cod. Indeed, we might not have had Hatteras or Everglades. In the former, we have agreed to let home owners continue to remain in residence. In the latter, we permitted commercial com-mercial development in limited degree upon the very fringes of Hatteras and oil drilling in the Everglades. In all cases, however, how-ever, the primary purpose of the Park Act has been served. "Our changing society is making mak-ing essential new concepts regarding re-garding all land use, and this holds true for our national park. This was made clear in the report re-port of the Outdoor Recreation Resources Review Commission, which stressed multiple use if possible. . The objective in our park areas must be in keeping with the law itself. Once this objective ob-jective is assured, controlled use of the lands for other purposes becomes consistent with the purposes pur-poses of the law." "The carrying capacity of the foliage within Canyonlands (the new national park proposed for Utah) makes a controlled hunt essential. The available foliage simply will not support the wild life of the area, which will starve unless thinned by the hunt. The predators have all but been eliminated. "The only question is whether this shall be a controlled hunt in which outdoorsmen participate partici-pate under overall direction of the Park Service, or whether it shall be a form of science butchery butch-ery by members of the Service. Despite the purists who agree that the wildlife stock must be periodically thinned out, I see no violation of the spirit of the Park Act in the limited and controlled con-trolled hunt. That sportsmen will benefit is all to the good." SENATOR FRANK E. MOSS Senator Frank E. Moss of Utah Wednesday advocated a major revision in national park policy which will allow controlled commercial com-mercial uses such as mining and grazing in future additions to the national park system. In a prepared speech Moss told the Senate that the new policy must be adopted if the nation is to add needed areas to the system in the coming years. He urged both those who insist on the commercial com-mercial exploitation of all public pub-lic lands and those who demand traditional national park standards stand-ards to face up to "today's world and tomorrow's needs." Senator Moss is a member of the Senate Interior Public Lands Subcommittee which considers national park legislation. He is the author of a bill to establish a new 330,000 acre Canyonland National Park in the rugged country on the Colorado River in southeastern Utah. Predicting population growth to 350 million Americans in a . generation, the Senator stated that the need for more park land is "accepted in principle" by virtually everyone but that every proposed addition is stubbornly opposed. He said: "Too often many who call themselves conservationists oppose op-pose conservation when it takes the form of park lands. They argue that America cannot afford more park lands because of the mineral, forest, and other potentials poten-tials of all lands. In the eyes of these people any area selected is certain to have hidden values uncounted! "On the other hand, the need for more park land is not only recognized but is given dedicated support for a group who are conservationists con-servationists in the true meaning of the word, but this group favors fa-vors and expansion of the national na-tional park inventory only on their own terms. They recognize, I am sure, that we are on the threshold of a new era in recreational recre-ational planning and management, manage-ment, but they cannot let go of the old approaches, of the old formulae. Every national park must be a pure park, shut up and away from any but quiet recreation recre-ation uses. "I am convinced that sound national park management and controlled resource development need not necessarily be in conflict. con-flict. I challenge those who hold divergent points of view, to balance bal-ance off the values and find ways of reconciling them. "I speak as a friend of our national park system. I have a great admiration for the Park Service and the superb job it has done. I feel that nothing must stand in the way of the expansion ex-pansion of our national park system. Furthermore, speed is |
