National Park Service

National park concessionaires, accused of earning excessive profits at the government's expense, have blocked release of a government audit to prevent their finances from being made public, a congressional committee said Thursday. The audit, a detailed appraisal of problems outlined in an Interior Department task force report released in April, was conducted by the agency's inspector general and contains specific profit figures for businesses that operate concessions in national parks.

The words "government efficiency" may seem like an oxymoron, but not in the case of the new Santa Monica Mountains interagency visitor center, set to open June 9 at King Gillette Ranch in Calabasas. The new headquarters for the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area will also house the various agencies, all in one place, that manage the sprawling mountain range. Now that's efficient. Hikers, riders, campers and other outdoor lovers of the Santa Monica Mountains will have a bigger and better visitor center smack dab in the middle of the mountains and closer to some of the Santa Monicas' prime recreation spots.

If you're a Civil War buff or you're planning a trip to a Civil War site, a new  National Park Service website can help you. Even if you're not going anywhere, the website is fascinating to browse, from its lists of places to visit to its facts to the people who played major roles in the war. I'm not sure it's as popular as the recently released 1940 Census data that slowed traffic on that site to a crawl this week,...

If you're a Civil War buff or you're planning a trip to a Civil War site, a new  National Park Service website can help you. Even if you're not going anywhere, the website is fascinating to browse, from its lists of places to visit to its facts to the people who played major roles in the war. I'm not sure it's as popular as the recently released 1940 Census data that slowed traffic on that site to a crawl this week,...

Robert S. Chandler, who dealt with complex problems as superintendent of many of the country's largest national parks and took the lead in implementing the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area in the late 1970s and early '80s, has died. He was 74. Chandler, a resident of Tehachapi, Calif., died Dec. 23 of multiple myeloma at a hospital in Bakersfield, said his son, Alan Chandler. In a 38-year career with the National Park Service that began in 1958 and included serving as superintendent of the Grand Canyon, Olympic and Everglades national parks, Chandler was known as an effective leader who worked with local communities and state and government officials on tough issues.

The National Park Service is launching a study of sites in California and other states associated with the life and work of labor leader Cesar E. Chavez for possible designation as a national historic landmark or addition to the national park system. "The life of Cesar Chavez and people like him who have worked to make this country a better, more perfect union deserve to be recognized as part of the history of America," Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said Thursday. "As stewards of the history of this great nation we look forward to working with the Chavez family, the United Farm Workers and communities throughout California and Arizona to determine how best to preserve this great legacy."

One day deep in the administration of George W. Bush — a time of tumult among environmentalists and conservationists — Roger Kennedy found himself shaking his head and sighing. The Endangered Species Act was in the cross hairs of a Republican Congress and his beloved National Park Service, which Kennedy directed from 1993 to 1997, was under assault. Kennedy was disgusted by the partisan bickering. When had stewardship of the environment become a political football, he asked, posing a rhetorical question to a reporter.

A proper response must be made to Michael McCalley's charge that the National Park Service is a "Gestapo-like organization" (letter, May 2). I have never encountered or observed a park ranger treating visitors without professional respect and helpfulness, in any of my visits to over 40 national park units in the last five years. I have seen park visitors bring their own problems to a park and deliberately break clearly posted park rules, commit damage to the environment, or bring harm to property or others.

Removal of the famous Mojave desert phone booth ("Requiem for a Telephone Booth," May 30) appeared to be a trivial story and basically harmless to everyone but the crazies who spent their spare time answering calls there. But the National Park Service's decision is another example of its increasing control over public lands. Its excuse that the "increased public traffic had a negative impact on the desert environment in the nation's newest national park" is its way of saying that they disapprove of anything that created interest in "their national park" that wasn't their own idea.

Re "Parks vs. profits," editorial, Nov. 3 National parks shelter spectacular examples of natural and cultural history. Diverse landscapes, such as the red rock canyons of Zion and the alpine lakes of Glacier Park, offer myriad opportunities for recreation and study. Misguided efforts by Deputy Assistant Interior Secretary Paul Hoffman and Rep. Richard Pombo (R-Tracy) to change the National Park Service's management policies and to jettison park units countermand public opinion and defy common sense.

This storied adobe mansion outside Los Angeles was once a getaway for California's last governor under Mexican rule, a landowner so wealthy he called the nearly 9,000 acres of land around it his "ranchito. " Now, state budget cuts have reduced supporters of Pio Pico State Historic Park to begging for recyclables to cash in to keep the gates to the 1850s landmark from closing. As California moves to close dozens of state parks by July 1 to save money, those fighting to prevent the closures are growing increasingly desperate.

California has struck deals to keep 11 state parks open and more reprieves are in the works, whittling the number of parks that will be closed this summer because of budget cuts, officials said Tuesday. Private donors, foundations and other government entities have come forward with funding or operating agreements to keep the 11 parks open for one to three years, said Roy Stearns, deputy director of California State Parks. The agency announced last year that the state's fiscal troubles would force it to shutter 70 of the 278 parks in the system.

Southern California Edison and two federal agencies said Friday they are only weeks away from resolving a years-long disagreement over connecting renewable energy projects to the grid. The parties reached a preliminary agreement one week after Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) sent a letter to Edison urging the utility to end an impasse that had frustrated the government because solar projects were sitting idle long after they had been built. Utilities elsewhere in California have signed similar interconnection agreements with few problems or delays.

For a nation in perpetual motion, to cross the lands that make up the Mojave National Preserve has long meant only one thing: You are very nearly somewhere else. For westward-bound travelers, whether they came through open wilderness, along the now-overgrown Mojave Road or later by the legendary lanes of Route 66, this most American of deserts was little more than an obstacle to more promising lands. Long before them, Native Americans traded regularly across these harsh miles, as enamored as everyone else with speed.

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) is asking the Obama administration to explain why federal authorities haven't cracked down on the Occupy D.C. protesters camped out in a federal park downtown. In a letter to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, the chairman of the House oversight committee claimed that the encampment appears to violate a ban on "camping" in the park. Issa also notes that the square was also recently refurbished with $400,000 in new grass, light fixtures and other upgrades, paid for with stimulus money.

The Statue of Liberty hosted a 125th anniversary celebration Friday and then decided to take off the rest of this year and part of the next. Being a hostess, of course, can be a lot of work, but in this case, it's a lot of work that's being done to the hostess that will keep her closed for about a year. Now the party is over, although the National Park Service emphasizes that Liberty Island will remain open during the $27.25-million renovation. About 3.5 million people visit Liberty Island in a year, but only about only 2,500 tickets a day have been available for the inside tour of Lady Liberty, which means about two-thirds of the visitors don't go inside.

Conrad L. Wirth, 93, longest-serving director of the National Park Service. The son of a park administrator, Wirth was born in a city park in Hartford, Conn., and brought up in another one in Minneapolis. He studied landscape architecture at the University of Massachusetts and was in private practice for five years as a landscaper and town planner, and then worked for the National Capital Park and Planning Commission in Washington.

The Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, a unit of the National Park Service, offers the following tips for springtime hiking in the Santa Monica Mountains: * Water is life. Carry plenty of water and drink it. One quart or more for short walks. More for longer hikes. Alcohol is not a good substitute for water. * Sun protection. Wear sunscreen, hat and sunglasses. Long-sleeved shirts are recommended on sunny days. * Never hike alone; use the buddy system.

Three California State Parks of the 70 slated to be closed next year because of the state's budget crisis have been given a reprieve for at least a year. The National Park Service has agreed to step in and operate these state parklands that fall within national boundaries: --Tomales Bay State Park in Point Reyes National Seashore and Golden Gate National Recreation Area; --Samuel P. Taylor State Park in Golden Gate National Recreation Area; --Del Norte Coast Redwoods State Park within Redwood National Park, near Crescent City.

One day deep in the administration of George W. Bush — a time of tumult among environmentalists and conservationists — Roger Kennedy found himself shaking his head and sighing. The Endangered Species Act was in the cross hairs of a Republican Congress and his beloved National Park Service, which Kennedy directed from 1993 to 1997, was under assault. Kennedy was disgusted by the partisan bickering. When had stewardship of the environment become a political football, he asked, posing a rhetorical question to a reporter.