ECOIMPACT

YOSEMITE VALLEY -- The former Yosemite NPS Superintendent, George Finley, is leaving his current job at Yellowstone, and quiting the National Park Service for good.
     The departing superintendent of Yellowstone National Park says he believes the future of the nation’s first national park is in serious danger.
     Encroaching development, exotic species, severe funding shortages and swelling visitor numbers all threaten Yellowstone, Michael Finley told reporters in Livingston, Montana on Wednesday.
     Finley spoke frankly as he said "I think the public should know this park is at severe risk.Unless something occurs to mitigate that risk, we’re going to have a diminished Yellowstone in the future." Finley introduced dramatic changes at Yellowstone that brough unwelcomed attention to him and the NPS. One innovation her introduced was the reintroduction of timber wolves .; Another was the bann on snowmobiles.
     The Bush White House recently announced that the snowmobile ban in Yellowstone is being reconsidered. Finley said, "I've tried to make decisions that will withstand the test of time. Yellowstone should be here for your grandchildren." he said.
     "At some point, you just can’t keep dumping thousands of people into the park.The park’s mission is not to sell more motel rooms in an adjacent community or more rubber tomahawks!" he concluded.

Letter to the Editor

SEQUOIA -- Dale Bosworth was appointed the fifteenth Chief of the Forest Service. Dale is a career Forest Service employee with 35 years of service.
     He has been Deputy Regional Forester, Pacific Southwest Region near Fresno, Calif. Bosworth was raised in Northern California where his father worked for the Forest Service.
     He also has a son who is a forester on the Black Hills National Forest. Dale's current assignment in Region 1 is in an area that has been hit with forest health and wildfire problems in recent years.
     With this background and knowledge of western and Midwest forest issues he brings a good understanding of the problems facing him as Chief.