Preserving national heritage

Sunday, April 6, 2008 | 2:06 a.m.

A national park advocacy group says the ecosystems and visitor experiences at 56 national parks and federal historic sites could be drastically altered by private development unless the federal government purchases the private land holdings within these areas’ boundaries.

Andrea Helsel, spokeswoman for the National Parks Conservation Association, a nonprofit advocacy group, told The Arizona Republic that in one example, Congress approved the purchase of private lands within Arizona’s Petrified Forest National Monument in 2004, but didn’t fund the purchase. As a result, at least one owner of land within that park has put his parcels up for sale.

Last year Congress approved $44.4 million for expansion within about 20 national parks and monuments, but it is nowhere near the amount needed. The National Park Service says it would take about $2 billion to purchase the 1.8 million acres that are at risk of being sold to developers.

The association’s full report on the 56 parks and monuments that are at risk because of the sale of private land is to be released Tuesday. Among those to be included, The Arizona Republic reports, are Arizona’s Petrified Forest, Golden Gate National Recreation Area in California, Harpers Ferry National Historic Park, at the confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers in Virginia and West Virginia, and Gettysburg National Military Park in Pennsylvania.

Once subdivided or paved over, the lands inside or connected to some of our nation’s most venerated parks and monuments are gone — as are the wildlife habitats, natural treasures and cultural and historical artifacts they contain.

Washington should have provided adequate funding for these purchases when they were approved. It will cost more to acquire them now and in the future, but it still is the right thing to do. We cannot allow these precious lands to slip away.