The mountains of Olympic National Park. (Alaskan Dude / flickr) http://www.flickr.com/photos/72213316@N00/ / CC BY 2.0

You knew it would come to this.

We’re in the middle of the sloppiest economic recession since the 1930s, and the Republican Party continues retreating to its purified, conservative base. As the federal deficit rises and predictions of tax increases grow louder, you just knew someone on the conservative side of America would take aim at U.S. national parks.

Normally, I would prefer to keep Compass Points above the partisan fray, and when there is an issue to be discusses, we would like to present a balanced report, such as we did for the debate about establishing higher electrical towers in Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area.

Zion National Park in Utah. (ReneS / flickr) http://www.flickr.com/photos/rene-germany/ / CC BY 2.0

Sometimes, though, we cannot stand idly by and watch people with the stature and influence of Glenn Beck – the popular, loud, histrionic Fox News talkshow host – needlessly soil the reputation of national parks. For the post, I’ll attempt as best I can to keep my POV out of it except to teach Beck, his viewers and Pointers a little background so you can make up your own minds.

Beck recently derided the federal government for controlling vast quantities of western land in the forms of national parks, monuments and forests, sowing the seeds of conspiracy theory to frighten people into thinking the feds are hoarding natural resources like oil and natural gas in those areas. Nevermind that logging, mineral extraction and grazing, among other things, regularly occur on these federal lands.

What I’d like to remind Beck and his viewers of is this – the roots of Republican politics go deep into the soil of conservation and preservation.

The Yosemite Valley and Mariposa Grove received government protection after the first Republican president, Abraham Lincoln, signed a bill passed by … wait for it … a Republican Congress.

Yellowstone received national park status in 1872. Lemme check the roster – ah yes, the President occupying the White House at the time was Republican Ulysses S. Grant.

The Republican president as conservationist doesn’t stop there. “In early 1889 … (Theodore Roosevelt) wondered whether the Boone and Crockett Club had a staunch ally in (President) Benjamin Harrison. Because Harrison was a Republican – as were most early conservationists – Roosevelt was hopeful,” wrote Douglas Brinkley in The Wilderness Warrior.

Where would this bear be without national parks? (tmarschner / flickr) http://www.flickr.com/photos/tmarschner/ / CC BY 2.0

Harrison as a Senator helped prevent commercial development in Yellowstone, sponsored legislation to protect the Colorado River in Arizona (you know, the Grand Canyon), and as President, Harrison enacted the Forest Reserve Act of 1891, establishing 13 million acres of wilderness as forest reserves.

William McKinley (yup, a Republican) enforced an end-of-term policy enacted by Democrat Grover Cleveland that established 21 million acres of protected wilderness.

Oh, yeah, I’ll just mention the name Theodore Roosevelt and move on … except to say he moved to protect 230 million acres of American wilderness. Okay, I’ll move on now … Roosevelt was a Republican … moving on now …

These GOP Presidents (must make Beck gag) protected these landscapes because industry and special interests moved to decimate them, to ravage their resources and then leave nothing behind. Timber, railroads, callous hunters and others desperately wanted to make money, and these Republican Presidents stood in their way so these lands and their fauna could persevere, renew themselves and be available for all future American generations. Odd how things change in a century, huh?

Funny how conservatives like Beck always invoke the philosophy of America’s founding fathers (and even then, only the ones they agree with), pushing for state and national polices that reflect the way the “founding fathers” wanted us to do them. But seems like Beck isn’t willing to follow the ways of the Republican “founding fathers.” After all, it was a Republican President who established the federal income tax (Lincoln, 1861).

Perhaps Beck should remember that the terms “conservative” and “conservation” share the same root word.

Have a great weekend, Pointers. If you’re out on the trails or on the water, take a few photos and share them on our Facebook page. The Compass Points community always buzzes over at Twitter.

Hike On!

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