Regional Report
BISCAYNE N.P., Florida—Three years of legal wrangling ended in June when the seven aging houses in Biscayne Bay known as Stiltsville were ruled public property.
Three environmental groups, including NPCA, sued last year to open the cottages to the public. Under the National Park Service ruling, current Stiltsville occupants can continue to use the structures until a final plan for the area is completed, probably within a year. NPCA participated in federal mediation to identify plan options. Stakeholders involved in the mediation recommended the creation of a public, nonprofit trust to manage the structures. Mary Munson, NPCA's Sun Coast regional director, said such a trust could help raise the hundreds of thousands of dollars needed to make safety upgrades necessary to allow public access.
DENALI N.P., Alaska—Legislation recently introduced in Congress would permit recreational snowmobiling in the 2-million-acre wilderness core of Denali National Park in Alaska. If passed, the legislation would allow unlimited, recreational snowmobiling in approximately 20 percent of the federally designated wilderness within the park. NPCA opposes the legislation and is working to prevent it from being passed. Joan Frankevich, NPCA's Alaska regional program manager, said that more than 95 percent of public lands in south-central Alaska are already open to snowmobile use. The noisy, polluting machines do not belong in the Denali wilderness, Frankevich said. "If any place should remain closed (to snowmobile use), it is Denali, the first national park in Alaska and sanctuary for some of the most viewed wildlife in North America."
