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Dear Reader,
I need your help because, like one supporter who posted on our Facebook wall last week, I am also "astounded and dismayed."
If you haven't heard, last week the House of Representatives passed H.R. 4089, the Sportsmen's Heritage Act ... a bill which could allow hunting and recreational shooting in the vast majority of units of the National Park System that are currently closed to hunting.
Amazingly, an amendment that would have clearly exempted national park units from the bill was rejected by 260 representatives, a disturbing number.
Is there a need to hunt ravens at the Edgar Allan Poe National Historic Site, aid the restoration of the National Mall by eliminating excess pigeons, or conduct target practice at Gettysburg National Cemetery or the Flight 93 Memorial?
In the absence of an exemption for our national park units from this bill, we are left to imagine such absurd scenarios as well as others that seem far more likely.
To make matters worse, this bill has moved quickly to the Senate, where it may be taken up on very short notice.
Millions of families visit and experience the rich beauty, majesty, and heritage of our National Park System each year. Quite frankly, it is absurd to open up these great places ... where we take our families to learn, enjoy, reflect, and honor the sacrifices of our ancestors ... to hunting and recreational shooting.
This bill, if passed as is, could entirely change the National Park System's historic legacy of having these park lands be a sanctuary for wildlife, where game hunting and target practice are forbidden.
As the foremost citizen advocate for our parks, it's NPCA's responsibility to protect our national parks. Our track record shows that, with supporters like you behind us, we can demonstrate to Congress that Americans want our national parks protected and kept as they were intended.
NPCA will be working relentlessly to make sure that every Senator knows that you -- and more than 600,000 other NPCA members and supporters -- want them to honor the legacy of the National Park System by agreeing to support a clear exemption for national park units from this bill.
With time against us, we need all the help and resources we can muster to orchestrate a full effort to make sure Congress does the right thing before it's too late.
With your support, I know we will do everything possible to ensure that these great places are protected for our children and grandchildren, and they will remain as they were intended.
Thank you for everything you do to protect our parks.
Sincerely,
Thomas C. Kiernan
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