Roy&Lynne wrote:
RPreeb wrote:
I really don't understand this. The NPS is supposed to be the agency that oversees the National Parks, Monuments and Historical Parks/Military Battlefields. Those places are held in trust as places of natural wonder or historic interest and are preserved and managed essentially for tourism.
The USFS and BLM manage public lands for multiple use, including tourism, but also encompassing many commercial uses.
The two agencies really have different missions and the official designation or natural character of the lands has always dictated who has control. National monuments have always come under the umbrella of the NPS and Department of the Interior, not USFS or BLM and Department of Agriculture. If what is being reported here is accurate, this is a disturbing departure from the norm.
Exactly and I would still contact the NPS for information. I am sure they would know more than folks on a forum.
The BLM is overseen by the Department of the Interior.
The reason that USFS is overseeing some of Bears Ears is because they already oversee that area - it is part of a national forest.
There are 126 National Monuments; 85 are managed by NPS, 41 by other departments. It is not a "disturbing departure from the norm." Giant Sequoia (USFS), Coastal California (BLM), Canyon of the ancients (BLM), Grand Staircase-Escalante (BLM), Mount St. Helens (USFS), etc.
National Monuments are designated for preservation. The resulting tourism is a by product. National Monument designation ensures the land will be better protected and better funded, not necessarily better visited.
