Grand Teton National Park Expands Through Rockefeller Donation
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Arrowhead Summer 2001 • Vol. 8 • No. 3 The Newsletter of the Employees & Alumni Association of the National Park Service Published By Eastern National FROM THE SECRETARY Grand Teton National Park Expands A Message From DOI Through Rockefeller Donation Secretary Gale Norton fs great to have ice President Dick Cheney, Secre Ithis opportunity to Vtary of the Department of the Inte show my gratitude rior Gale A. Norton, Grand Teton NP for your tireless Supt. Jack Neckels and others were pres work preserving ent at a May 26 ceremony when conser and protecting our vationist Laurance S. Rockefeller nation's great nat donated his JY Ranch to the federal gov ural and cultural ernment. It is to become part of Grand treasures. Teton National Park in 2006. In my first months as Secretary, I The JY Ranch is a breathtaking have been fortunate to visit many 1,100-acre property within Grand parks. During each visit, I have been Teton featuring dramatic lake-and- able to see first-hand some of the important projects in the parks. At mountain scenery. It provides habitat Grand Teton National Park I watched for moose, mule deer, elk, coyotes, bear mechanical forest thinning, a tech and other diverse fauna and flora. nique used to protect against wild- Under a plan developed by Rockefeller, land fire, and t toured the sewage it will become a public area requiring treatment project underway at Yel special management. lowstone National Park. In presenting the gift of his family's One of my most memorable 1,100-acre ranch, Rockefeller envisions moments so far as Secretary was an experience different from what mil meeting Vice President Cheney at lions of visitors find in many other parts Grand Teton National Park on of the park. Visitor access to this area will Tami Heilemann. DOI Memorial Day weekend and accept be limited in an effort to increase public ing the very generous gift of the JY awareness of natural resource preserva LAURANCE ROCKEFELLER WELCOMES VISITORS TO THE JY RANCH. Pictured Ranch from Laurance S. Rockefeller. tion and nurture long-term conservation left to right: Vice President Dick Cheney, Park Supt. Jack Neckels, JY Ranch Foreman It is truly these types of gifts—big of the property. Tom Laughlin and Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton. and small—that ensure a thriving "The plan developed for the future of and prosperous future for our parks. the JY seeks to achieve the delicate bal coming to our parks," said Rockefeller endowment hasn't been finalized because I feel fortunate to work for ance between conservation of nature during the ceremony. it depends on what is considered to be President Bush. He is committed and public access and use. In too many In addition to donating the JY Ranch, necessary to manage the property. Lau to improving our national parks places in the national parks, overcrowd Rockefeller will also provide an endow rance Rockefeller said he felt "an extraor for current and future generations to ing and overuse are progressively ment to help manage the area in accor dinary sense of fulfillment" in giving the enjoy. In our proposed 2002 budget, destroying the very values people seek in dance with his wishes. The amount of the ranch to the American people. he has already taken the first steps to ensure that we effectively main tain the parks through the enhance ment of ecosystems, improvement of outdoor opportunities, better infra Lured by a Promise of Free Land structure and accountability through along the Volga River, the Black Sea They sent back souvenirs and descrip performance goals. By Eddie Wells, park ranger and the Crimea. Settlers would have the tions of the new land—one party even Homestead NM of America One of President Bush's primary costs of their journey borne by the gov sent back a block of Nebraska soil to goals is to eliminate the $4.9 billion n May 20, 1862, President Lin ernment, and the immigrants would prove the fertility of the land. The backlog of deferred maintenance Ocoln signed a bill that created a law enjoy religious and cultural freedoms, movement was on! projects throughout the park system. that had a profound effect on immigra freedom of language, self-government In the United States, railroads and even The President hopes to improve the tion and the settlement of the West. and freedom from compulsory military states were advertising free or cheap lands educational value of park experi The law provided 160 acres of free land service. This was the cultural and polit in the Midwest. The Homestead Act of ences by making sure that citizens to U.S. citizens, or those who had doc ical atmosphere, which for many Ger 1862 and its promise of free land was but are aware of opportunities to partici mans, was a long-sought dream. a few years old and land fever was at a pate in conservation and restoration umented intent to become a citizen, partnerships. Finally, he hopes to were at least 21 years of age and the In 1764, the first group of 7,000 pitch. The Kinkaid Act, passed in 1904, improve conservation and park head of a household. This was the families from central Germany arrived opportunities in urban areas through Homestead Act of 1862. to settle along the lower Volga River. By continued on page 5 partnerships with state and local The Homestead Act and its effect 1793, there were over 33,000 settlers governments. living in colonies of 225 to 250 persons. upon the immigration, settlement and Big Cypress Superintendent As Interior Secretary, I also chair on the diversity of the population of the The climate of the steppes, not unlike the board of directors for the Nation United States is the focus at Homestead that found later in Nebraska, was con Receives Mather Award al Park Foundation, the official NM of America. Here exhibits, trails ducive to a long growing season that On May 18 National Parks and Con national nonprofit partner of the and special events commemorate the resulted in rich crops. Life was good for servation Association (NPCA) pre NPS. The foundation honors, enrich successes, and sometimes failures, of the the Volgan Germans. sented the Stephen Tyng Mather es and expands the legacy of private homesteader in the quest of a dream. In 1861, Alexander II, great grand Award to John Donahue, superin philanthropy that sustains the parks Lured by free land, especially fertile son of Catherine the Great, began to tendent of Big Cypress N PRES. in innumerable ways. It not only lands in the area that would soon become change some of the conditions that accepts contributions from individu John was honored for his efforts to known as the "bread-basket of the were promised to the new foreign set als, but it works with other founda protect the preserve from the unreg world," thousands of immigrants came to tlers. In that year, he freed 25 million tions and corporations in innovative ulated use of off-road vehicles start a new life. One of these unique serfs, which put them in direct compe ways to fund numerous programs (ORV). In his 14 months at the pre groups was the Germans from Russia. tition with the German land holders. and initiatives for both the parks and serve, John has put a plan into place The final blow to the immigrants was our employees. The NPS is very In 1762, Catherine the Great, a Ger that has limited ORV use to less frag privileged to have such a monetary dealt in 1874 when compulsory military man by birth and the empress of Russia, ile areas and restricted them to desig support network at its side. service was ordered for all Russian sub had overthrown her husband, Czar nated roads and trails. He also limited jects regardless of national origin. As the stewards of our national Peter III. Catherine, who was highly access points to 14 from the previ parks, your jobs are sometimes dif popular among the army, church and The search for a new home was ously unrestricted access. The award ficult and too often thankless. the peasantry, opened lands south and begun. Several colonies along the Volga is given to managers who risk their I, along with the President, thank east of Moscow to foreign colonization. River and the Black Sea pooled jobs and careers to protect the impor To entice settlement, she made promis resources and sent scouting parties to tant resources in national park units. continued on page 7 es of free lands in the steppes (prairies) the U.S. to seek out suitable lands. 2 Arrowhead • Summer 2001 Focus on the Parks to Roosevelt's son, Ted Roosevelt, Jr., a noted that there was a lack of adequate WWII brigadier general who led the 4th toilet facilities and houseboat pump-out Infantry Division's landing at Utah stations on Lake Powell. A number of Beach on D-Day in June, 1944. He people pumped waste overboard or used remained at the front until he died of a the beach areas for bathroom sites. The heart attack six weeks later. Other park was urged to increase lake water bac than Generals Arthur and Douglas teriological monitoring and to provide MacArthur, the Roosevelts are the only additional waste handling facilities on the father and son to be awarded this honor. lake. The monitoring led to beach clo • Navajo NM sponsored a one-day sures in areas where bacterial counts were considered high. The park also pursued a training session for interpreters from the program to require all boaters to have a Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park in toilet on board and a number of May.