Saturday, October 5, 2013

This Is Why I Oppose Making Chesapeake Bay a National Park

Just before the weekend, the National Park Service informed charter boat captains in Florida that the Florida Bay was "closed" due to the shutdown. Until government funding is restored, the fishing boats are prohibited from taking anglers into 1,100 square-miles of open ocean. Fishing is also prohibited at Biscayne National Park during the shutdown.

The Park Service will also have rangers on duty to police the ban. Of access to an ocean. The government will probably use more personnel and spend more resources to attempt to close the ocean, than it would in its normal course of business.

This is governing by temper-tantrum. It is on par with the government's ham-fisted attempts to close the DC WWII Memorial, an open-air public monument that is normally accessible 24 hours a day. By accessible I mean, you walk up to it. When you have finished reflecting, you then walk away for it.
No, it's even worse. With minor exceptions, all the ocean is open to anyone who can get to it.

Actually, National Park Service already has an extensive occupation in the Chesapeake, and is angling for more...
The National Park Service has a robust presence in the Chesapeake, including 54 national park sites, five national trails, seven national heritage areas, many national natural landmarks, and the Chesapeake Bay Gateways and Watertrails Network of more than 170 private and public natural and cultural sites.

Restoring Chesapeake landscapes means protecting our lands, air and waters. The National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) seeks to do the following:
  • Expand national parkland protection throughout the region, and increase connectivity between protected areas
  • Increase acreage in state and federal land conservation, easements, and best management practices programs, and increase connectivity among such areas
Why would we allow them to control more land and water to exclude us from the next time they want to make a point.

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